


Taking the world by storm

by NerdyNobody



Category: N.E.R.D.S. - Michael Buckley
Genre: Gsjdinen by the way if youre reading this its also on fanfic.net and i actually update there, LMAO, Warning for future depictions of torture, but i wanna revive it, even if its with my shitty writing, found family kinda, i very doubt that anybody is reading this, since the fandom is literally fucking dead, warnings for brief mentions of dysphoria
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 00:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 60
Words: 59,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14367057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyNobody/pseuds/NerdyNobody
Summary: Thirteen years after the NERDS organization was shut down after complications due to the FBI a new villain is on the rise. However with the NERDS disbanded and the members in completely different states, who will stop him?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sup people! This is my first ever fic. I noticed that theres hardly any fanfics for this fandom, and i felt the need to fix that. Anyway, i hope you guys like it.

JJ thought this was going to be a nice day. They really did. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and there was a nice breeze blowing away the heat of the sun. However that day took a quick turn for the worst when they decided to go out for a walk. There was currently a large robot crashing through the streets of their town and JJ was forced to run and take cover in a nearby school.

They were currently slumped against a slightly rusted locker, beads of sweat dripping down their tan skin and green eyes wide. "Jesus fucking christ. What the absolute shit." The words came out of their mouth in short pants, still attempting to get a grip on what the hell was happening.

The child reached into the pocket of their red baggy sweatpants and pulled out their phone, quickly going to dial 911. But just as their finger was about to press the call button, they paused.

What the heck were they supposed to tell them? That some big robot was wrecking the shit out of the town? Yeah, there is no way in hell that the operator was gonna believe that. In truth, JJ still couldn't. JJ reluctantly placed the phone back in their pocket, sliding back down the locker.

"Jeezum. Whatever the hell is going on, Im really hoping whatever that thing was gets dealt with soon." They muttered to themselves, straightening their purple tanktop out and sitting up to look around. The school they were in had to be closed down due to something that had to do with the FBI. They never divulged why, but everyone knew something was up. Suddenly, a voice echoed through the empty halls, making JJ jump and put their fists up, ready for a fight.

JJ waited a minute, but the voice didn't seem to be getting any closer. But now that they were listening to it, the voice sounded very electronic and glitched. It was repeating the same words over and over again, glitching off and repeating. "Prepazzt prepazzt prepazzt" JJ slowly made their way towards the voice, still wary, turning a corner and into another hallway, finding that this voice was originating from a locker that was on the wall. JJ put their hands down and raised a brow at the locker. "What the hell?"

JJ took a second to inspect the locker. It was rusty from the years of not being maintained, and now that their taking a close look at it, the top was sparking, as if there were wires running through it. That was weird. Lockers didn't have wires in them. They stepped into the locker to inspect it, which wasn't all that hard with the body that only a short 12 year old could have.

As soon as JJ did this the voice stopped for a second. But as soon as it stopped, it began again, this time finishing its sentence. "Prepare zztt entrance zzto the plaztyground." JJ's eyebrows furrowed "The wha-" They didn't get to finish their sentence, as the floor of the locker dropped out from under them, causing JJ to let out a loud yell as they fell downward. They were hurled every which way. Up, down, and sideways, yelling all the while.

Suddenly, a small blast of air came from below, slowing down their freefall. However it was not enough to stop them from crashing to the ground, slamming their head into the ground, and blacking out.


	2. Stuck in a rut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ wakes up in a place decidedly NOT supposed to be underneath a school

When JJ awoke, it was with a groan. Their entire body hurt, most prominently their head. They took a couple minutes, but eventually was able to roll on their back and open their eyes.

"What in the hell...?" The room was slightly dark, as it seemed that more than a few lights on the ceiling were broken but still lit enough that they could see.

They sat up, rubbing their head and examining the room that they were so rudely dropped in. It was huge to say the least. The room was shaped like a dome, and it had multiple screens spanning the entirety of it. There were desks around the room, and papers and gadgets strewn across the floor, almost as if the people here had left in a great hurry. Multiple places around the room were sparking and very broken. It had obviously not been kept well.

After examining the room, they did a self check, making sure that nothing vital was injured. Luckily other than the fact that a large bump had made itself clear on the back of their head. JJ ran their hand through their light brown hair, examining the platinum blonde tips. Standing up, they reached into their pocket, and pulled out some pieces of scrap metal. They started making their way around the room, examining the things strewn around it, fidgeting with the metal pieces all the while.

They would occasionally stop and pick up a few papers and read them through, although most of the things that they said made little sense to JJ. They eventually made their way to the front of the room, which presented a large computer, seemingly not connected to the screens on the wall. For a moment they stopped twirling the metal around their fingers as they noticed a button on the side that seemingly had the telltale power button. Walking to it, they put a hesitant hand on it, considering what it might do.

"Aw what the heck. Nothing TOO bad could happen. Right?" They pressed the button.

As soon as they did so, the computer immediately started whirring up a storm, making loud popping and electric noises. JJ immediately backed away, arms raised in front of them just in case the computer decided it wanted to make their day even worse and explode. However such a thing did not happen. They covered their eyes and blinked a bit to get used to the light that emmited from the terminal as it turned on. When the computer finally finished booting up, it came to what looked only fairly like a desktop screen.

"Sweet." JJ said, grinning.

Once they moved back to the center of the terminal, they took ahold of a small sphere, which looked to be what the mouse was. They hated those types, but they dealt with it. For the next couple of hours, they scanned through files, codes, and info that had been stored on the computer, growing more and more shocked as they read it through. JJ didn't know at what point the metal made its way back into their hands, but when they finally decided they were finished fishing for info, it was twirling around their fingers at a rapid pace.

"Okay. Alright. This is fine. There was actually a team of kid superheros who fought crime like in the movies right under your nose, but this is fine."

JJ was not sure what they thought of this. One part of them wanted to start squealing and the other one wanted to lie on the floor and realize the implications of what this meant. However they were unable to make a choice before their phone started buzzing. They took it out and fumbled with it for a bit before finally checking out what notification they had gotten. It was a notification from emergency the emergency lines. They read in increasing horror as they saw that the entire town was being evacuated, although the success of this was minimal. Multiple people had already been taken hostage by the robot that was rampaging around.

JJ needed to sit down for a second as they realized what this meant. No doubt their parents had already evacuated, and they were still stuck in this facility.

"Shiiiiitttt." They swore, putting their head in their hands. Trying to run away would surely get them captured, and who knows what would happen then. Shaking the thoughts out of their head, they realized they were probably going to be staying here a lot longer than they had anticipated.


	3. Getting an upgrade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ actually has zero idea what the fuck they are doing. Sweetie I love you but stop jumping into ideas the second they get into your head.

It had been two weeks since the day JJ had been dropped unceremoniously into what was they learned was called "The Playground", and since then a couple of things had happened. JJ had made The Playground sort of a home base. A place they knew was fairly safe, and wouldn't be infiltrated easily. After they had found a way out, they had immediately gone to loot a few abandoned stores for supplies before coming back and setting up. First thing they did was place multiple cushy and soft things on the landing area so they didn't have a repeat of what had happened before.

After that, they had moved the desks around so as to be less of a hassle to maneuver around. Then they picked up all the papers from the ground and put them in neat piles on one side of the room, as well as carefully picking up the gadgets and moving them to the opposite side. When they finally finished turning the place into a little bit less of a mess they went back to the computer and ran a diagnostic on the facility. It seemed that the place was only functioning at 43% of its normal power. Most of the percent was focused on one particular room, one they had come to learn was the upgrade room. They dared not try to go in, in fear of the room malfunctioning and possibly doing something horrible to them.

Currently JJ was laying on the blankets they had spread on the floor as a makeshift bed and twiddling with the small piece of scrap metal they always kept with them. They had found it when they were only a small child, and hadn't let go of it since. They would constantly fiddle and fidget with it whenever they were bored, nervous, or thinking hard. It was a small, seemingly insignificant thing, but it meant a lot to them.

For a few minutes they sat in silence, before reaching into their pants and pulling out their phone and checking the news. The situation above ground had only gotten worse. Much worse. The villain who liked to call himself "The judge" had taken over two more towns in the span of their stay at The Playground. They knew one thing. Something had to happen, and it had to happen soon. In their escapades outside they had bore witness to what a sadistic, fucked up phycopath this man was. They was VERY lucky to have gotten away from him to put it very lightly.

"Damn dude. Where the hell are the superheros when you need em?" JJ muttered as they stretched out their legs and sat up.

For the next minutes they thought, and thought, and thought. They knew what they had to do, but if they COULD do it was a completely different ballgame. Finally they decided. They were not going to allow themselves to sit around and do nothing while that phycopath was running around taking over the world. No way in hell. They stood up. They were gonna do this, and they were gonna need help. JJ walked briskly over to the door of the upgrade room, only pausing for a split second before entering. A steel door immediately slammed closed behind them, and what looked like a metal slab rose up from the floor.

JJ hopped onto the table, and clamps clasped themselves over their hands and feet. They tensed up as a laser scanned over them and a electronic voice said

"SCANNING FOR WEAKNESSES" For a second JJ regretted going in here, and wondered about all the things that could go wrong, although those thoughts were cut off as the same electronic voice echoed in the room. "WEAKNESS DETECTED. PREPARE FOR UPGRADE."

"Yeah? What is it?" JJ inquired

"SUBJECT CONSISTENTLY FIDGETING WITH OBJECTS WITH METAL PROPERTIES." JJ raised a brow, however their curiosity was drawn to a halt as syringes and the sort surrounded them, and instead gave way to slight panic.

"Wait wait wait, can we stop?" The computer was silent as JJ was injected with the nanobytes and they blacked out.

When JJ woke up a couple minutes later, they felt slightly strange. Some sort of power was rushing through their body, and they couldn't say it didn't feel weird. They exited the upgrade room and made their way back to the main one, reaching into their pocket and pulling the scrap metal out of it. When they touched it however, their fingers started tingling. They were confused for a moment, but it gave way to shock and excitement as the metal started to float above their hand.

"Oh. Well thats pretty cool!" They laughed, making it shoot around their body and into the air, bending it and unbending it, making every shape they could possibly think of. JJ's face grew a huge smile as they pondered the limits of this power.

They let the small piece of metal float in front of them as they brought their hand up and concentrated on the gadgets around the room. Sure enough JJ felt the power rise through their body and the gadgets all rose off the ground, orbiting slowly around JJ's body. For a minute they tested out these new powers, taking the gadgets apart and putting them back together. This didn't go on for too long though. There wasn't any time for messing around. They had lots of work to do.

For the next few days, they spent all of their time transforming the school into an impenetrable base. They used bits and pieces of other buildings, creating large walls around the school and beginning to fix The Playground with the help of some blueprints that they found. The upper floor turned into multiple different storage stations, mainly for weapons and the like. The Playground quickly went from being only 43% operational to being 98% operational. JJ hardly got any sleep in these days. The judge had taken over three more towns when they finished. Unfortunately JJ knew that even with their new upgrades, they probably wouldn't be able to stand up to him. But that didn't matter. Because they were determined they were going to get help from some of the best agents that they could. The NERDS.


	4. A new friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ saved him now their gonna fuckin kill him by their own hands. JJ stop you don't know what you're getting into.

JJ was determined that they were going to find the previous operatives of the NERDS. However, there were multiple problems with that. One, they had no idea where they were, and two, they didn't plan out how exactly they were going to get to them once they found them. It was something that they needed to look into. That was for later though. Currently JJ was stalking along the street on a supply run, watching and listening for The Judges goons along the otherwise empty streets.

They were able to get some good looting in, and checked off their list of things they needed for the base and some personal essentials like food, medicine, and the like. They were almost halfway back to their base when a sudden ruckus made itself clear a couple blocks down. JJ immediately made their way quickly and quietly down the street to where the commotion was. What they saw made them tense. It was three of The Judges goons, and they were surrounding a small boy, seemingly a little bit older than JJ. One of the goons had picked him up by the collar of his shirt and was laughing sadistically at him, brandishing a knife to his jugular as his friends cheered him on. The boy was flailing and crying in a desperate attempt to make the goon release him. It obviously wouldn't happen unless they stepped in.

"Hey! Goons! Put him down!" JJ called. The goons immediately reacted. Turning to look at them. They boy had stopped crying to look at them.

"Well well well. What do we got here boys? Trying ta pull a hero act little girl?" The man chuckled slightly, before gesturing his head to them.

"Get her." At the order the two men rushed at them. JJ's eyebrows furrowed, and they cracked their knuckles. This should be fun.

The first goon tried to pull a punch on them, but they dodged out of the way easily, grabbing his arm and throwing him off balance. They lifted their leg and sent a powerful side kick to the goons ribs, making him keel over, after which JJ swiftly sent a karate chop to the back of his head, incapacitating him. The second goons eyes widened, pausing for a moment, before charging them. At this point JJ had reached behind them, pulling out a metal baseball bat. The bat swirled around them for a second as they took in the terror in the goons eyes.

"What the hell?!" The goon yelled, backing up. JJ grinned, sending the bat flying forward with a flick of their wrist and promptly knocking out the second goon.

They looked back up at the lead goon. He was obviously nervous and was backing away from them.

"H-Hey, stay the fuck back or this kid gets it." He pressed the knife into the kids neck, a small rivulet of blood going down it. JJ paused a second before letting out a low growl.

"I dont think so motherfucker." With a flick of their finger, the knife jerked away from the boys neck and out of the goons hand, coming to float into their hand. The goon looked back and forth between the boy and his knife, bewildered. Without any warning, JJ rushed forward, bat in hand. They swung a large ark over their head and straight into the hand holding the boy. Crying out in pain, the goon dropped him and clutched the injured limb to his chest. JJ pulled the bat behind their head with both hands.

"Oh, and by the way. Im not a girl. I have no gender. only rage, bitch." JJ swung the bat down hard, slamming into the goons skull. That was gonna hurt in the morning.

As the goon fell unconscious, they finally had the chance to give the boy they had just saved a closer look. The boy was very thin, and his hair was curly and pale blond. His light brown eyes were wide and he seemed to be shaking slightly. JJ didn't blame him. They would probably be too if they were in his position. It took a minute, but they reconized him! He was in the grade same grade as them, and took a few classes with them. His name was Noah Peet if they remembered correctly.

"Noah! Dude, is that you?" they asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him up.

"JJ? What the heck was that? How did you" JJ put a finger on his mouth, politely shutting him up.

"I'd much rather we had this conversation in a safer area. If goons attacking you didn't say enough." Noah nodded, and they made their way back to the base. JJ laughed when Noah's mouth nearly dropped to the ground as he took in the sight of the base. There was a huge wall of metal held up by screws and bolts and different things. JJ flicked their arm down and a giant door came down like a medieval bridge. Turning to Noah, they made a lighthearted bow, presenting the enterence to him.

"After you sir." They said grinning. Noah smiled a bit and entered, JJ following behind them and closing the gate back up.

They shuffled inside and JJ showed them to the locker. Noah raised an eyebrow at them.

"Uhhhh, JJ, this is a locker." JJ sighed.

"Yeah Noah. I know its a locker. please get in so I can have an eaiser time with this." For a second Noah hesitated giving the locker a once over, before stepping in. Seconds later the floor dropped out from under him. After a bit of flying around every which way, a sudden blast of air came from under him and stopped his falling

landing him lightly on a large pile of soft pillows and blankets.

A few seconds later, JJ drops in behind him, giggling lightly.

"That never gets old." Noah gaped at the room, taking in the sights. JJ had cleaned it up quite a bit, and it was looking very neat.

"JJ, wha- What is this place?" JJ grinned, walking in front of him.

"Noah my friend, welcome, to The Playground!" For the next hour or so, they answered questions and gave what information they could from what they had learned from the computer, as well as their plans to bring the NERDS back together and take back what The Judge had taken.

"And so yeah!" JJ elxcalimed, "As soon as I figure out where everyone is, I'm gonna make em join the NERDS again!" Noah was sitting on JJ's makeshift bed and listening to them as they talked, watching small pieces of metal fly jubilantly around their body.

"So, who are these agents anyway?" Noah inquired

"Well first of all is Ruby, or pufferfish as they called her, peeeee-" JJ's words suddenly faded out as they started connecting dots and the wheels in their head started turning.

"Noah, you dont happen to have a sister named Ruby do you?" JJ asked

"Actually, yeah, I do! How did ya know?" At this, JJ promptly squealed and picked Noah up, jumping happily

"Okay, okay, dont freak out, but take a look at this." JJ sprinted over to the terminal on the wall, clicking through a few files and the like before landing on one. In this file held the info on agent Ruby "pufferfish" peet. As well as a few photos and videos.

The more info they looked at, the more bewildered Noah became. Eventually he had to sit down to process it all.

"My sister was a secret agent. I actually can't believe it." he said, putting his head in his hands

"Believe it dude. All the evidence is in front of ya." JJ leaned her elbow on the top of his head "Now I hate to skip to the point so fast, but do you know where she lives?" Noah looked up at JJ

"Yeah. Mom and dad and I send her letters all the time. She's in lake city in new York city." JJ grimaced at that. New York city was a good eight hours away just by car.

"Oof. That's a ways away. How are we gonna get there?"

"I dunno. Maybe we could steal a van and take it there." Noah said jokingly, laughing a bit.

However, to Noah's horror JJ didn't laugh back. Instead a large grin split their face.

"Hey! Great idea!" Noah bristled and waved his arms furiously.

"JJ, no. That was a joke. We can't drive across the state. Dont even think about it." Three hours later, JJ and Noah were sitting in a van they had just stolen, with JJ in the drivers seat, and Noah sitting beside them.

"This is the worst idea you've ever had and it will be a miracle if we dont die.

" Oh come on Noah! It won't be all that bad!" Unfortunately, it was.


	5. The first member

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ruby is pulled harshly back into the world of spying by her kid brother and some random kid with metal powers

The drive to New York city was a nightmare to say in the least. JJ had nearly crashed at least four times, and Noah was clinging to his seat the entire time. The fact that they hadn't been pulled over by cops was a miracle. They pulled over in a parking lot as soon as they could, although JJ had to move the car a bit to make sure it was in a space. They both tumbled out of the van and onto the concrete, JJ giggling hysterically.

"Holy crap Noah, we did it." Noah gave them an incredulous look

"Yeah! And almost died, like what, ten times?!?" Noah screeched

"Aw, don't be negative nelly, Noah. It wasn't all that bad!"

JJ took a good look around. They had arrived at the edge of a large city, quite close to a cafe actually. In truth, they could probably use some food. It had been a long drive with no stops, and they could probably use a bathroom right now.

"Hey Noah, you hungry?" JJ asked, gesturing to the cafe

"Definitely." The both of them trodded over to the cafe and entered. It was a small and cozy and the people working there seemed really nice. They took a seat at one of the booths and a waitress came up to them.

"Hey there honeys, is there anything I can get for ya?" They took a look at the menu for a second before deciding that JJ would have the chocolate chip pancakes and bacon and Noah would have the Texas toast sandwich. JJ had pickpocketed more than a few goons, so money wasn't a problem.

After the waitress left to get their orders JJ turned back to Noah.

"Can you believe it? We are actually doing this. It kinda feels surreal if I'm gonna be honest." Noah nodded

"I feel you. It really is weird. I'm surprised we even got this far."

"Yup. Now that we're here, you know where the address is, right?"

"Yeah. Luckily its not way too far. We should be able to walk there from here actually." JJ grinned.

"Great!" The waitress arrived with their food, they ate, went to the bathroom and left the cafe.

JJ skipped along the sidewalk, and Noah jogged behind them, both taking in the scenery. Finally they found the address that they were looking for. It was a two story house that was painted a generic eggshell white, with red trimmings around it. Noah and JJ looked at eachother before walking up to the door and ringing the bell that was beside it.

"One minute!" Someone yelled. A couple seconds later, the door opened to reveal a young woman, seemingly no older than twenty five. She had extremely kinky golden blonde hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail on her head. She wore large square glasses on her nose and was slightly tall. Her eyes widened when she saw Noah.

"Noah? What are you doing here? And who is your friend?" JJ looked at him, before looking back at the woman

"Are you miss Ruby peet?" They asked, which she raised a suspicious eyebrow at.

"Well, yes. Who's asking?" JJ grinned a little

"Me. I'm here to bring the NERDS back together." As soon as they said that, it was like a switch was flipped. Ruby jerked up and took a step back, almost as if she had been punched in the gut. She whipped her head around before grabbing the two of them and tugging them both inside.

"How did you learn about the NERDS?" She asked. JJ decided that they wanted to show off.

They looked around before their gaze landed on a lamp that sat in the corner of the room. Turning their palm up, they gestured towards them with a finger, and sure enough, the lamp lifted up and floated easily towards them. Ruby watched it happen with wide eyes.

"Let's just say I fell down a hole." Ruby put a hand on her head and closed her eyes.

"Hold on. I need to process this. Take a seat would you?" She gestured to a room branching off from where they were, that was seemingly a living room with a couple couches and a TV as well as a coffee table in the middle.

After sitting down, Noah and JJ explained their situation, how they had came to find The Playground, their plans to stop The Judge from taking over the world and the like. Ruby nodded as they explained, processing what they were saying.

"So wait, one question, how did you get here? The town you were in was a good few hours away." Noah and JJ both grimaced at eachother

"Uhhhh, well, JJ kinda stole a van and drove us here?" Noah said nervously. Ruby immediately gave the two of them am incredulous look.

"Excuse me, did I just hear you say you DROVE here????"

"Yeah. We drove here. It was JJ's idea."

Ruby placed her head in her hands and let out a long drawn out groan. She shifted her hands and gave the two of them a one eyed look, before sitting straight up.

"You know what? OK. I'm gonna help you two. One, because I dont want children driving cross country, and two because I would really rather not be enslaved by some phycopath dictator." JJ squealed happily, jumping up and tackling Ruby into a hug. She stumbled back a bit, before awkwardly patting their back.

"Alright, so do you know where the others are?" The looks they gave her said enough. This was gonna be a pain in the ass.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aka Ruby is internally wondering if JJ knows what their doing. They dont.

JJ woke up due to the fact that they fell off of the couch that they were sleeping on. Yesterday Noah and them had found the woman by the name of Ruby 'pufferfish' peet who was a part of the team they aimed to put back together. Although unfortunately, it was getting slightly late when this happened, so they only had a small bit of research time. After that, Ruby offered to let JJ stay in the guest room, but they decided they would rather sleep on one of the couches and let Noah sleep in the guest room.

Yawning, JJ stretched their arms above their head before letting them fall back to the ground.

"You alright there?" Asked Ruby, who had just walked into the room

"Yup. I do this all the time." JJ replied, standing up and plopping back down on the couch they had fell off of. Ruby had a two plates of bacon and eggs as well as a plate of toast balanced on her arms. Setting them down she sat next JJ and looked at them.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Theres no guarantee that this is gonna work. Someone might even not want to be back on the team." She said. JJ looked back at her, before switching their gaze to their lap.

"Yeah. I know this might not work out how I want it to, Not many things do, but I have to try." JJ clasped their hands together and placed their chin on them

"I knew from the start that this was a really messy plan. It was a spur of the moment decision, and I had no means planned it out at all, but I know it was the right thing to do. Theres no way in hell that I'm just gonna roll over and hope that the police are gonna deal with it, because by this point, they've proved themselves to be pretty damn useless."

There was a fire in their eyes that Ruby had to admire. They had obviously made up their mind, and there was no backing down from it.

"Alright. Whatever you say. You shouldn't be swearing though." She said.

"Get fucked." Ruby put a finger up and opened her mouth to scold them, but stopped.

"Fair enough." She said, taking a bite of her toast. Eventually, Noah finally plodded down from upstairs, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Sup bedhead." JJ joked. This earned them a glare from him and a slight smirk from Ruby.

"Your breakfast is getting cold. Better eat it." She said. Noah walked over, dropping on the couch, and digging into the bacon and eggs. After finishing up breakfast they all sat down for some reaserch. Ruby read over phone books and the like, Noah scanned newspapers, and JJ used Ruby's laptop to browse the internet.

It was a couple hours of searching, asking eachother whether they had found something, hitting dead ends, and groans of frustration. They were starting to give up hope, before Noah gave out a sudden victorious cry and pulled them over.

"Guys! Look at this!" Ruby and JJ scanned the page, and immediately saw what he was talking about. In the corner of the page, there was an advertisement for a hospital. There were a couple people posing for the photo on it, and among them was a young man. His face had changed a bit with age, but there was no mistaking the face of agent Heathcliff Hodges of the NERDS.

"Amazing job Noah! You did good!" Ruby praised

"Yeah! Ya did it buddy!" JJ said, giving a bear hug. Noah blushed a bit from the praise.

"Are we gonna check it out now?" JJ nodded.

"Let's do it." They jumped up to start getting ready, but they paused.

"Oh wait. We should probably go get that van first though. We left it a little ways from here near a cafe." They all nodded at that.

"Probably. We dont want to be leaving stray cars willy nilly all over the place."

After getting ready, they all took a walk down to the cafe where JJ and Noah had left the van. Ruby immediately took charge of driving the vehicle. No way was she gonna let the kids drive again. And soon enough they were on their way to Albany. Although much to Rubys chagrin, JJ and Noah were singing along with the radio quite loudly the whole time.


	7. Hospital hodges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more member down, only four more to go. Yay.

The drive to their destination wasn't all that long. Albany was significantly closer than their first drive, and traffic was, fortunately, light. Along the road JJ and Noah would occasionally sing along loudly with the songs playing, and when there was an ad break they would ask Ruby questions about her time as an agent in the NERDS. The ride went without incident, and soon they had arrived in front of a quite large hospital.

"Alright kiddos. We're here." Ruby said, turning to Noah and JJ

"Woohooo! Yeah!" JJ cried, opening their door and jumping out. Ruby and Noah followed their example, unbuckling and stepping out. They stretched their legs a bit before starting to walk towards the hospital.

"So, I'm guessing we just go in and ask if doctor Hodges is there?" Noah asked

"I'm guessing. Hopefully he didn't change his name again." Ruby replied. JJ and Noah raised a brow at this

"What do you mean? Did he used to change his name a lot?" JJ inquired.

Ruby flinched at this. Seemingly remembering something that she would rather not remember.

"I'll tell you in the future. Its probably best to get everyone back together first. Its a bit of a long story, and I don't want you jumping to conclusions about him. Hes changed a lot." JJ and Noah looked at eachother with confused looks, but dropped the subject, opting to bring it back up at a later date.

They opened the double doors to the hospital and entered into a large reception hall. There was a cirlcled desk in the middle of the room that had a space for about six receptionists to sit at inside of it with room to spare. The group walked up to one of the receptionists at the desk. She had an apathetic look on her face that told them that she would probably rather be somewhere else than working here.

"Ah, uh, hello miss, we would like to see one of your doctors?" The woman gave the group a once over

"Have you booked an appointment?" Ruby cringed a little

"Well, no, but its important. Do you have a doctor working here named Heathcliff Hodges?" As soon as the receptionist heard that name she let out a loud groan before giving them a strange look.

"Yeah. We do. He's an annoying guy if you ask me. Why do you need to see him?" the receptionist asked

"He's an old friend of mine." replied Ruby.

The receptionist shrugged before picking up a phone that was close to her and dialing a number.

"Dr. Hodges? Yeah, some people are here to see you." A unintelligible voice came through the phone, and the woman nodded.

"Third floor room six."

"Thanks." Ruby said, placing her hands on JJ and Noah's backs and ushering them to an elevator at one side of the room. They entered it and pushed the button for the third floor.

"So, what do you think hes gonna think?" Noah asked. Ruby seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging.

"I really don't know. Hes probably changed a lot." The elevator stopped, and the doors opened, letting the group exit into the hallway. They trodded down it until they reached room six, looking at eachother before JJ knocked on it.

"Come in!" Said a voice from inside.

Sitting in the room was a young man. His hair was a bright redish orange and stood up a good amount. He wore a set of glasses similar to Rubys that covered two lime eyes and was sitting at a desk close to the wall. Ruby smiled a bit at him.

"Hello Heathcliff. Long time no see." Heathcliff gave her a confused look, giving her an up and down with his eyes.

"You look familiar. Do I know you?" Ruby raised a brow at him with a laughing smile

"What, you dont recognize me? I knew I changed, but I didn't think I changed that much. Its Ruby." Heathcliff's eyes widened, jumping up he rushed over to her with a giant grin on his face.

"Holy crap! Ruby? Its really you? Why are you here? And how did you find me? Who are these kids with you?" the questions were being thrown rapidly, and eventually JJ got annoyed, and placed a hand flat over his mouth, shutting him up.

"Whoah whoah woah. Hold up there dude. First things first. We're here to bring back the NERDS." Heathcliff froze, staring at JJ like they had a second head.

"Wha-" He looked back and forth between the group.

"What? Am I going crazy or something?" He sat down and layed down onto the ground.

"I'm going crazy arent I." For a minute he mumbled to himself while JJ in particular gave him an exasperated look. His mumbling was stopped by a small piece of metal smacking him in the forehead.

"Nope. Your not going crazy. This is happening. JJ said as the same piece of metal that had smacked him in the forehead floated into their palm.

Heathcliff didn't respond for a second. Only staring and processing everything. Suddenly a large grin nearly split his entire face in half.

" WOOHOO!!" The sudden loud woop of happiness caught them all off guard, causing them to jump. Heathcliff hopped up and promptly grabbed JJ under their arms and spun them around in the air. JJ laughed a little at this. Heathcliff put them down after spinning them and immediately gave Ruby a large hug.

"Oh my GOD. I can't believe this is actually happening! You have to tell me everything." JJ, Noah, and Ruby looked at eachother and nodded. For the next few hours they answered as many questions as they could, bringing Heathcliff up to date on everything they were doing. Heathcliff nodded along as the info came to him, giving the kids a surprised look when they told him how they had quite literally driven eight hours to get to Ruby.

"So, thats pretty much it. Are you with us or not?" JJ finally asked after finishing the story.

"Do you even have to ask? Of course Im with you." He replied. They all agreed to meet up early tomorrow morning at a frozen yogurt place to reaserch together. Over all JJ would say they considered it a successful day. They were doing this. The excitement of that came with that statement nearly kept them up all night.


	8. On the dock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group chills out near a lake and happen to find a certain man that used to have braces

JJ woke up from their sleep, luckily not falling off the couch this time, to Ruby shaking them and telling them to get ready. After waking up Noah and brushing their hair they all hopped in the van to meet up with Heathcliff. On the ride JJ looked at the news through their phone, which they knew they probably should have done earlier. They put it back in their pocket and started looking a bit more anxious.

"Something up JJ?" Noah asked. JJ shook their head at him

"Its probably better we discussed it when we have Heathcliff with us."

Noah nodded in understanding and dropped it for then. The ride was fairly quiet this time. The only sounds being the radio, the rumble of the van's engine, and the cars outside. They arrived at the place without incident luckily. At this point in time the scrap metal JJ always kept in their pocket was twirling in and around their fingers, occasionally stopping to rest in their palm. Walking into the building, they spotted Heathcliff sitting in one of the booths. He waved them over with a smile when he saw them.

"Hey guys! How was the drive?" He asked

"Pretty good. No traffic, which was a miracle." Ruby replied, plopping down next to him and leaving the kids to sit on the other side. They chatted calmly for a couple minutes before getting their orders and starting to get down to business.

"Alright, first of all, you guys need to see this." JJ said, pulling out their phone and showing them all what was on its screen.

It was a news article. Not only that, but it was about The Judge. There had been four more town takeovers, and not a single person who was sent to take him down came back alive. Often if they did came back, it was as brutally ripped apart corpses. The rest of the group jerked back in absolute horror. JJ definitely had reason to be nervous.

"We really need to up our A game people. If we slow down we might not be able to get everyone together in time." JJ said solemnly.

Everyone nodded at this. With that, they all started up their reaserch. It ended up being four days before anyone found something significant. The group had decided to meet up in a park along a nice lake with a dock, which had a very nice view in JJ's humble opinion. Noah was sitting on one of the swings in the park gently swinging back and forth. Ruby and Heathcliff were sitting together and looking at her computer as she tapped furiously at it. JJ was laying on the dock, dipping their feet into the water and browsing the net on their phone. It was quite peaceful.

The next hour consisted of chilling on their respective seats, and occasionally yelling to eachother asking if they had found anything. Until JJ suddenly let out a loud woop of joy and ran over to Heathcliff and Ruby, yelling to Noah for him to get over there. As soon as Noah got there, they thrusted their phone in the groups faces. On the screen was a website. It was for a college in Ohio. On the side of the page was a list of top teachers of the month. And sure enough, on that list was a familiar name.

Jackson Jones. Or, if you were referring to his codename, braceface.

"Hey! What do ya know! Its braceface!" cried Heathcliff. The rest of the group grinned.

"Yeah. But he's also in Ohio. Anybody ready for a drive?" JJ said. The group nodded at eachother

"Let's go." Ruby said, closing her laptop and standing up. Everyone else followed close behind


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ is a little shit that knows exactly whats going on

The drive to Ohio was unfortunately, not as lucky as their other drives. There had been a car crash on the highway they were driving, and traffic had backed up a long way. Ruby, who was at the wheel, let out a loud groan of frustration and let her head drop onto the wheel, causing the horn to make a long beeping honk noise. JJ was equally as frustrated as her, they had never been the most patient after all. They were VERY tempted to just move all of the cars out of the way with their upgrades. Heathcliff stopped them from doing this however. They were just lucky that the scenery was fairly nice.

"Ain't this just GREAT." JJ said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Calm down. Our exit is right up ahead." Ruby replied, pointing to it. After a couple more minutes, they were finally able to get off the highway, and onto their road. It took a little while of missing turns, arguing which way was the right one and asking for directions they had reached the college. JJ took a mental note to download a GPS on their phone next time they had a chance before examining the college. It was pretty damn big in JJ's own words.

Students went to and fro walking along the campus grounds and chatting with their friends.

"Wow. Thats...pretty big." Noah said. The rest of the group nodded.

"Exactly my thoughts Noah. We should probably split up to find this guy quicker. It'll take all day to find him if we stick together. And we don't have all day." JJ replied. Ruby and Heathcliff gave eachother a unsure look. Neither of them really wanted two children walking around a crowded college campus alone. JJ saw the looks and rolled their eyes at them.

"I know what you're thinking ya know. we'll be fine. There are people everywhere, and if someone tries to do something funny we can just scream for help. Not to mention I have my upgrades if I need em." JJ said to them, making their scrap metal float above their finger and smirking cockily. Ruby sighed, running a hand through her hair and looking at Heathcliff for an opinion.

"I mean, their not wrong." He said, shrugging. Ruby nodded and turned to the kids.

"Alright. Be careful then, and scream if you need help." She said. JJ and Noah nodded, opening their respective doors and hopping out. JJ immediately ran into the school, while Noah opted to stay outside and ask around with the students mulling around. Ruby and Heathcliff entered the school as well, branching off into different hallways. On JJs escapades, they ran into a student, who gave them a confused look.

"Hey, what's a kid doing in college? Where are your parents kid?" She asked, kneeling slightly down to JJ's level.

"Do you have a teacher here named Mr. Jones?" They asked back.

"Oh! You mean professor Jones? Yeah! Hes my history professor. Hes a dreamboat too." She replied, gigging slightly. JJ cringed a bit. Ew.

"Yeah, well thats great. Can you tell me where his class is?" The student nodded at them.

"Yeah! His class is three hallways down, left right left. Its the last one on the left, but why do you need to-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence. JJ was already gone.

Sprinting down the hallways, occasionally running into the wall on accident, they finally arrived at the door. They looked into the room through the glass panel on the door. Inside was someone who seemed to be grading papers. His hair was a bright blonde and was slicked back. He had bright blue eyes and the beginnings of a goatee growing on his face. No doubt that this was him. JJ opened the door, and called to him.

"Hey, yo! Are you professor Jones?" They asked. He seemed to be surprises by their entrance, turning to look at them. Once seeing a smallish child walking into the room, he gave them a semi confused look.

"Why, yes I am. May I ask who you are?" JJ grinned, padding over to him. They leaned onto his desk and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Names JJ. And I'm here to get you back on the NERDS." Jackson jolted backwards, eyes widening.

"What? But, the NERDS were disbanded years ago. Theres no way tha-" He was cut off when the pen in his hand tugged out of it and flew into JJ's waiting palm. They gave him a smirk with a raised eyebrow.

"Care to revaluate that thought?" They asked. Jackson seemed to need a minute to process this. He ran a hand back through his hair before putting the other one over his mouth and looking at JJ.

"If you're wondering how I found out about you guys, I'll just say that I took a very unceremonious and painful drop into the playground." They said, wincing at the memory.

"The playground? I thought they destroyed it?" JJ shrugged at that.

"Apparently it didn't work as well as you guys wanted it to then. I mean, the place was pretty fucked when I found it. Pretty much everything was either broken or barely functioning. I was just lucky that I was able to get the computer working." Jackson seemed to think on that for a second.

"We knew something was up. Must have been an error in the system that made the deactivation less effective." JJ nodded and crossed their arms.

"Makes sense." they suddenly paused for a second, seeming to realize something.

"Oh shit, I forgot I was supposed to call the others when I found you. Hold on." JJ pulled out their phone, dialing a number and calling it. They talked for a second before hanging up and doing the same for another number. They did this one more time, and in a couple minutes there was a knock on the door, and sure enough, Ruby, Heathcliff, and Noah entered the room.

Heathcliff immediately had a wide grin cross his face before jogging over to Jackson and slapping his back a few times.

"Jackson! Buddy! Its been a long time, how have ya been?" He asked. Jackson seemed to recognize him quickly, a large smile splitting his face.

"I've been doing good! How about you Heathcliff?" He replied, giving Heathcliff a couple pats on the shoulder in reply.

"I've been great! Its exciting to be putting the team back together again!"

Next in line to greet him was Ruby. She walked over to Jackson and gave him a light smile and handshake.

"Jackson."

"Ruby." The handshake seemed to last a bit longer than they usually do, and they seemed to be staring at eachother. Noah let out a small 'ahem' to break them up. They immediately let go of eachothers hands and turned away. JJ immediately noticed both of their blushes. They gave Ruby a slight eyebrow wiggle, going to make a suggestive 'Oooooo' noise, but she immediately noticed and clamped a hand over their mouth, glaring.

"Alright, but if you dont mind, can we go now? Times a wasting!" Noah said, giving them all a look. They all nodded.

"I just finished grading all the papers, so I should be able to go with you. Do you guys have any idea where the others are?" Everyone looked at one another, before giving Jackson a collective shrug and unsure look. He promptly smacked his face with his hand.

"Well this is gonna be fun." He said sarcastically.


	10. Sitting in the square

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aka the group has an EXTREMELY unlikely finding. Almost as if the author did it

"Have we found them yet?"

"No."

"Have we found them yet?"

"No."

"Have we found them yet?"

"For the last time n-"

"Have we found them yet?" This was Ruby's life right now. Dealing with an extremely impatient JJ that was draped dramatically over her lap and asking her this repeated question for at least five minutes straight in a shopping square. Needless to say she was getting annoyed. The two were sitting on a bench near a water fountain in the middle of the square.

Children were splashing through it and playing with eachother, much to their parents chagrin. Noah, Jackson, and Heathcliff had gone to get them all food while Ruby and JJ stayed in the square and used Ruby's laptop to do more reaserch, although JJ was making this hard to do since they were, as stated before, draped across her lap.

"JJ. You are making it very hard to do my job. If I find something you know I'll tell you. Please get off my lap as well." Ruby said. JJ stared at her for a second, before reaching hand up and touching her nose, making a small "boop" noise.

Ruby rolled her eyes, but JJ finally decided to go do something better than bother her. Namely hopping in the water fountain and messing around. She sighed, looking back to her laptop. For a couple minutes it was like this, until she overheard a group of girls talking.

"Wow! You got your boyfriend to take you to that restaurant you wanted to go to?" One of the girls said

"Yeah! It was sooooo romantic. The head chef is such an asshole though." another girl replied.

"How so?" One of the friends asked.

"Well, one of our servers accidentally dropped our food, and when he found out, boy was he pissed! He was just yelling at the poor guy in front of the entire restaurant!"

"Really? What was the poor guys name?" The girl seemed to think for a second, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Julio Escala I think." It was at this point in time when Ruby chocked on her own spit. Holy CRAP what a fucking convenient coincidence. She closed her laptop, standing up and walking over to the group of girls.

"Um, excuse me, but did you say something about a man named Julio Escala?" She asked, the girls looked at her with mostly confused faces.

"Uh, yeah. But why do you want to know?" One of the girls asked suspiciously.

"Hes an old friend I would like to get back in touch with. Would you be so kind as to tell me where he was?" The girls seemed to get an immediate 'ohhhhh' face, and smiled.

"It was a restaurant over in Illinois. I can give you the directions there if you would like?"

"Please." The girl gave Ruby a paper that she had wrote directions on, and by this point JJ had noticed the interaction, and was watching curiously from their perch on the edge of the water fountain. Noah, Jackson, and Heathcliff finally appeared, holding a few to go boxes of food. JJ saw them and waved them over, gesturing to Ruby. Ruby trodded back over to the four and waved the piece of paper.

"Guess who I found?" JJ raised a brow

"Chucklefuck número cuatro?" They asked. Jackson promptly doubled over in an attempt to prevent himself from laughing. Noah gave them an offended look. Heathcliff put a hand over his mouth with a surprised look. Ruby glared slightly.

"Yes. Chucklefuck número cuatro." She said with a sigh.

"Are we ready to go? We're going to Illinois." Everyone nodded. Standing straight up and starting their trek to the van they had parked a ways away


	11. Little bit loud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which JJ is absolutely a little shit to assholes who deserve it

The drive to Illinois was a crazy one if everyone was honest with themselves. At one point Jackson, who was driving the car at the time, had to slam on the brakes due to a deer running across the road, causing Noah to smash his face into the seat in front of him and making JJ have a laughing fit. At one point JJ decided to be a wise guy and scream for no reason, which caused Heathcliff and Noah to scream with them, and Jackson to halt the car once again. The radio also seemed to break, and only played one station on the highest volume possible, which quickly became painful, so JJ took the entire thing apart with a flick of their hand.

Needless to say, by the time they had arrived at their destination, the group, especially Ruby, was one hundred percent done with that bullshit. Getting out of the car and stretching their legs out, they trodded over to the restaurant and entered. Unfortunately they were immediately greeted by the loud sounds of a man yelling. Collectively raising a brow at eachother, the group walked to the desk in front of them and got a seat.

The yelling finally stopped, and a grumpy man who looked to be about sixty stormed past them, fuming.

Looking to where the man had stormed from they saw a waitress who seemed to be very shaken cleaning up a spilt drink on the ground. The group sat down at their table, and JJ took another look to where the man had stormed off to.

"Wow. That guy seems like fun" They said with sarcasm dripping from every word. For a couple minutes they sat there, chatting lightly, until a waiter finally appeared. The man had dark brown hair that was tied back into a low ponytail and had light brown skin and chocolate eyes. He also seemed to be extremely jittery to be completely blunt. Sort of like a kid that was hyped up on ten bags of sugar. Glancing at his name tag, they realized that this was him.

"Hello, Im your server for today, can I take your order?" he said. They all nodded, taking a look at their menus and ordering something. He took their orders, and quickly made his way back to where he needed to be.

"That him?" Noah asked for confirmation. The adults of the group nodded.

"It looks like it. With jitters like that, theres no way it can't be." Jackson replied to him. For a minute they sat silently, that is until more yelling came from the front desk area. Boy did that guy seem to like to yell. JJ was starting to get very sick of it. Taking a look around, they spotted a small coin jar that, thankfully for JJ, had a metal ring around the top of it. Subtly looking around, they brought a hand up, seemingly to stretch. As they did this, the entire coin jar lifted off of the counter and SMASHED into his face. The man reeled backward and fell onto his butt with a bewildered look, staring at the jar that was on the ground, and clutching his now bleeding nose.

The rest of JJ's group immediately shot a look at them. JJ shrugged at them, with a poorly hidden smile. Immediately after this, Julio came jogging around the corner, orders clasped tightly in hand, looking confusedly at the man, he gave them their orders. They thanked him and took them. After they ate, Julio came back with their bill. Nodding to him they paid it. Although at the end, JJ snatched it away, and wrote something on it with a pen.

"Read it would ya?" They said, grinning at Julio. He gave them a confused look, and looked it over as the group went and waited by the van. Meanwhile, Julio read the message on the bill with increasing excitement.

'Hey NERD you wanna be back on the team?' It said, with the signature globe with lines going across is at the bottom of it. He crumpled the bill up, looking outside the window at the group. They grinned and waved at him. Julio grinned and waved back.

He rushed back to his area, quickly getting back into his casual clothes before rushing to go out the door. From the groups view of what happened, before he did so, the man, who seemed to have been the boss of the place, gripped his shoulder and started yelling at him. Julio, however, seemed to be quite done being yelled at, and whirled around, yelling something back, before wrenching himself free from the angry mans grasp and running outside to meet the group.

"Before we do anything, is this really happening, and not just some kind of hallucination?" He asked looking between the group

"Nope. Definitely not a hallucination. This is happening. Ready to kick some bad guy butt again?" Jackson replied. After he did this, a large grin almost overtook Julio's face as he rushed to give his old friends big hugs. After finishing this he turned to Noah and JJ.

"Noah? Is that you? You've gotten big since I last saw you! And who are you chica?" JJ sighed, raising their arms in a cross.

"JJ. Also not a chica. Not a boy either if your wondering. Nice try though." They said. They didn't mean to be rude, but they really hated when people misgendered them. It was unfortunately a common mistake they had to correct.

Julio made a slight "Oooooohhhh" noise before apologizing. JJ waved it off and simply told him that he wasn't the first, and definitely wouldn't be the last.

"So where we going next guys?" Heathcliff asked. The rest of the group shrugged at him and looked at eachother.

"Probably to a hotel until we find any leads for now." Ruby replied. They nodded to eachother and off they went. More adventures. Yay. Although JJ would much rather have them all together already.


	12. Telling the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ gets Heathcliff to fess up. They dont particularly mind.

Finding a hotel to stay at was luckily very easy. There were at LEAST four on one of the blocks. They all lamented on this for a minute before booking three rooms for them. At the moment Heathcliff and JJ were in the lobby sitting on one of the long sofas and staring into one of the fish tanks. JJ seemed to remember something, and turned to Heathcliff.

"Hey, Heathcliff, can I ask ya something?" Heathcliff turned to them, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yeah sure! Hit me with it!"

"Well, its a weird question, but back when we were going to get you, Ruby mentioned something about her hoping you didn't change your name again. Did you used to change your name a lot or something?"

Heathcliff seemed to flinch quite a bit at that.

"Ah, hahaha. Yeah. Um, thats kind of a long story." He rubbed the back of his head with a nervous look. JJ raised a brow and placed their head in their hand.

"We have tons of time." Heathcliff sighed, running a hand back through his hair.

"Well, in wouldn't want you to think bad of me because of the things I did in the past. I've changed a lot since then." JJ frowned at this. Was what happened that bad?

"Well, if you've changed since then, I'm not sure why it would matter if you told me." Heathcliff was quiet for a minute. Weighting his options, he sighed."

"Alright. Sit back because this is a long one." After saying that, he shot right into his story. Relaying his memories of when he went rouge, getting pushed off that cliff by Ruby, leading an army of squirrels, getting his teeth knocked out, getting turned in to the mental hospital, becoming a giant head with infinite knowledge, waking up with no memories, leading an army of superpowered children to fight four superpowered giants, making his family remember him again. Pretty much everything he could remember that lead to the constant name changing. JJ listened to him with an unreadable expression on their face.

Once Heathcliff was finally done explaining he looked at JJ with a nervous look on his face. He had no idea what they were thinking. For a minute JJ was quiet, processing the information that he relayed to them. Until they finally spoke.

"Well damn. That really was a heck of a ride wasn't it? To be honest, I'm not all too sure what to say. You really do seem like you've changed a lot, and in my humble opinion, the past doesn't affect who you are in the present. Yeah, you did a lot of bad things back then because you were hurting. But just because you did those things in the past, doesn't mean thats who you are today. Honestly, you seem like the exact opposite! I mean, your a doctor aren't you? Your helping people instead of hurting them now right?"

For a moment Heathcliff looked at them. He finally let out a breath he had no idea that he had been holding, before patting them on the shoulder a couple times.

"Good to know you think so. Anyway, its getting late. We should head back to the group now." JJ looked over at the clock and hot diggity shit. It really did get late. The two of them tracked back to their group and got some research in before they all went to their separate rooms to sleep.

It was two days of research, but they finally found something that they could go off of. Heathcliff had found an online advertisement for a car and electronic repair shop, and wouldn't you know it, they had a list of names of the people who worked there. Including one name that they all recognised. Duncan Dewey. Collectively, the group looked at eachother and nodded. It was a pain in the ass, both literally and figuratively to find a lead, but they finally had. Now all they had to do was get him.


	13. Wires and bolts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ breaks their phone to get shit done. Everyone else is not amused

Unfortunately for the group, Heathcliff had failed to look up exactly where the place they were going was. Due to this the car ride was a very frustrating one for mostly everyone involved. They had to stop at a library and look it up halfway into the drive. Also unfortunately, was the fact that they had apparently been driving the exact way that they SHOULDN'T be. So yes, while the car ride was mostly fine other than that, it was still a very frustrating ride.

At some point during the ride, they had stopped to get some food and they were sitting around one of the tables. JJ seemed to notice that the entire ride, Julio had been very excited and impatient. They decided to ask why.

"Hey. Julio, dude. You've been bouncing off the walls this entire ride. Any reason why?" Julio looked semi surprised at this question, before smiling slightly.

"Well, you see, Duncan was my best friend back when we were agents. Practically family to be quite honest. I just can't wait to see him after this long." He said. The rest of the group nodded.

"He was definitely really close with him." Ruby put in. JJ nodded at the answers, accepting it. Soon enough they were back on the road with not much farther to go. They finally seemed to have gotten to where they were going. It was a fairly large place that had some people occasionally enter and exit. Getting out of the car and stretching out their limbs, they entered the place. To the side of them, there was the front desk that currently had a older woman sitting at it. The group walked to her.

"Hello? Miss?" Jackson asked, the woman gave the group a smile.

"Why hello! What's broken, and have you booked an appointment?" Ruby gave a nervous look at her.

"Well, no, but we heard a friend was working here, and we just wanted to see him. His names Duncan Dewey?" the woman frowned for a second, giving them a sympathetic look.

"Oh, well I'm sorry, if you don't have something that needs to be fixed, we can't help you with that." JJ groaned for a second before taking their phone out of their pocket.

They placed the phone down on the counter, and as they did, the entire phone came apart. Every single piece of it scattered across the counters surface. The woman gave the phone a extremely bewildered look and the rest of the group became tense.

"Is that broken enough to book an appointment?" The woman nodded, seemingly still bewildered, before picking up a neaby phone, pressing a number, and saying a couple things into it. She nodded before pointing over to a hallway near the end of the room.

"Last door on the right."

Jogging over to it, the group entered the room, inside was a young man who grinned and waved at them. He was very short, and slightly pudgy. He had very short black hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. He looked like a very happy person in JJ's opinion. Julio immediately lit up like a Christmas tree, running over to him, and picking him straight up off the ground in a hug.

"Duncan! Mi amigo! Its been so long!" Duncan had a very confused look on his face, but gave Julio a couple pats.

"Do I know you?" Julio gave Duncan a somewhat laughing smile.

"What? You don't recognize your best friend? Its me! Julio!" He said. As soon as he did this, Duncan's eyes widened before his face nearly split in half with a grin.

"Julio!? Is that really you? Then if its you, are they?" He pointed to the rest of the group. Julio nodded.

"Yup! Everyone but Matilda is here!" Duncan laughed.

"Why are all of you here anyway?" He asked confusedly. The group looked at JJ expectantly. They nodded and stepped forward.

"Well, as you probably know by now, a villain by the name of " The Judge" has been going around and taking over towns and stuff. A real nasty guy. Well, a little while back, when he was just starting his takeovers, he happened to come to my town. I saw him, but was able to go take cover in a school. Long story short that was the school you guys went to, I accidentally dropped into the playground, which wasn't destroyed by the way, and now I'm looking to get the NERDS back together to take down this evil motherfucker. You in?"

Duncan took in this info, and nodded.

"Definitely. Although shouldn't I fix that phone first?" He said, gesturing to the pieces of the phone in JJ's hand. They waved him off.

"Don't bother. I got this." Concentrating, the pieces of the phone lifted up and swirled around, clicking back together with ease. Soon enough, the phone was completely fixed and sitting in JJ's hand. Duncan stared.

"Well. That's one way to get it done I suppose." He said. Everyone laughed with him.


	14. Wrestling sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody is surprised that Matilda got a job as a wrestler. JJ and Noah are just confused.

Ruby was currently more than 1000% done. At the moment she and Julio were trying desperately to separate Noah and JJ, who had both decided it was a good idea to have a wrestling match after seeing an episode of it on TV. They quite nearly knocked over a lamp in the room while rolling around trying to get the upper hand.

"JJ, Noah, NO. Stop horsing around before you break something!" Ruby cried out frustratedly. She grabbed her little brother under his armpits and lifted him up off the ground, placing him away from JJ, who frowned.

"Aw, you guys are no fun." Julio shook his head.

"If stopping you from hurting yourselves makes us no fun then I guess thats true then." He said. JJ replied with a small pout.

A couple seconds later, there was a knock at the door. Looking over Ruby called out.

"Yes? Who is it?"

"Jackson. You guys coming down to dinner or what?" Jackson's voice called back. Ruby straightened up and quickly went to open the door.

"Yeah, sorry, I was just breaking up a fight between those two monkeys." She said, gesturing towards JJ and Noah. Jackson chuckled a bit, nodding.

"Well let's go then." He grabbed Rubys hand and started leading her down the hallway of the hotel, gesturing to the other three to follow.

JJ wiggled their eyebrows at Noah and Julio, who choked back a laughing fit. They quickly traversed down into the lobby that had a side area for dining. They all took some things they wanted from the different things set out for the people staying at the hotel. They all sat together at a long table and chatted away for a good two hours or so.

"So why were JJ and Noah fighting again?" Duncan asked.

"We saw a wrestling show on TV and we wanted to do it ourselves!" JJ replied jubilantly. Ruby shook her head with a slightly amused look, ruffling the twos hair, which JJ hissed at while Noah giggled.

Eventually the group seperated, saying goodnight before going to their separate rooms. JJ and Noah jogged into theirs, which was next to Ruby and Jackson's room just in case they needed them. Plopping down onto their respective beds, JJ reached their hand up and turned on the TV, lowering the volume. For a while they watched more wrestling matches together before Noah eventually succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep. JJ however, continued watching well into the night.

It was starting to become very close to two o clock, and JJ was starting to become very sleepy. They convinced themselves to watch a little bit more however. They did for a bit before suddenly they jerked completely awake. On the TV was a very short woman, probably even shorter than Duncan. She had a black hair that was cut into a buzz cut. She was absolutely and totally RIPPED. She might have been small, but it was apparent that she had a fierce personality depending on how she looked. Those things were not the things that stood out to them the most however.

What stood out to her, was what the announcer said her name was. Her name, was Matilda Choi. JJ grinned. How absolutely fucking lucky they were. They quickly jumped off their bed, picking Noah up by the shoulders and shaking him harshly.

"Noah! Noah, dude! Wake up! I found her!" JJ cried excitedly. Noah woke up groggily. JJ took no time in pointing out the TV, in which she was currently fighting another very, very tiny guy who apparently went by the nickname of The Stud. After pointing it out, JJ quickly rushed out of the room and over to Ruby and Jackson's, using their upgrades to open the door with no problem. They quickly rushed inside, using the metal springs inside their beds to levitate them slightly and fling them to the floor, where they quickly woke up.

By this point Noah had rushed down to the others rooms to inform them.

"JJ? What the heck?!" Jackson said, groggy and bewildered. JJ quickly explained to them, waving their arms animatedly. The three quickly went over to JJ and Noah's room to take a look. Noah, along with Duncan, Julio, and Heathcliff. They all looked at the TV were the episode was playing out. The adults in the room collectively looked at eachother.

"Of course she would be a professional wrestler. I'm not even surprised." Duncan said. The others nodded while Noah and JJ looked confused. They decided to go to sleep again before going to the venue. It was nearly two o clock in the morning after all.


	15. The last member

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is very happy to finally be back together again

The car ride was unfortunately a pain in the ass for everyone involved, quite literally. The ring that Matilda was fighting in was unfortunately all the way over in Houston Texas. They were all the way up in Minnesota when they found out where she was, and the drive down there was a long one. It did not help in the slightest that JJ was being extremely impatient and whined nearly the entire time. Whether they were actually impatient or if they were doing it just to be annoying is unclear. Once they had finally gotten to Houston and booked a hotel they needed to sit down and actually book a couple tickets to a match that unfortunately wasn't going to happen until two weeks later.

The group spent this time catching up and keeping track on The Judge, who had taken over four more towns by then unfortunately. When the day finally came for them all to go and get Matilda they all loaded into the van and drove to the location. To say that this place was crowded would be an understatement. It was loud and people milled around quickly. Noah stayed very close to Ruby and looked very nervous. After turning in their tickets they entered the main area and sat down in their respective seats, waiting for a little more than thirty minutes for the match to start.

Once the match had started most of the group had started getting extremely hyped up and were cheering for their friend in the ring. The opponents never stood a chance to say in the least. It was about two and a half hours before all the matches ended and everyone started leaving. It was pretty short in JJ's opinion. They quickly hopped up once they were clear and rushed over to where Matilda seemed to be giving autographs to people. Thinking for a moment, JJ pulled out a piece of paper, drawing the NERDS logo on the front with a little message on the bottom telling her where they were parked.

A couple minutes later JJ was able to get to her and hand her the paper. She was going to sign it before she actually took a good look at it and suddenly jerking up. Her gaze flipped up to JJ, who was giving her finger guns as they backed away through the circle of people waiting for autographs. They quickly went to find their group, getting lost a good few times in the process, but made their way to them and waited at the van. A little while later they heard someone calling them.

"Hey! Guys, holy shit is that you?!" The group turned to see the small woman sprinting over to them.

"Yeah! Its great to see you after such a long time!" Duncan said. Matilda seemed to scan him for a second before a wide grin split her face.

"Duncan!" She promptly launched herself at him and picked him clear off the ground with ease. For the next half hour the group spent their time greeting eachother and explaining things.

"So we have everyone now. Thats good! We can get back to my base now!" JJ exclaimed happily. The rest of the group looked at them.

"I guess so! Can't wait to see the old playground again!" Heathcliff said. The rest of the group nodded in agreement. In the next couple minutes, they were off.


	16. Nostalgic interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is tired, so they stop at a hotel. For a minute the former spies take a while to remember what they once had

At the moment it was very late. They had spent the entire rest of the day after they got Matilda driving. Most of them were very tired, and JJ and Noah were already dead asleep. They pulled into a big hotel and Heathcliff went in to book rooms for them while they stretched and got Noah and JJ out of the car. Ruby gently picked up her little brother without waking him while Jackson took JJ. They all went in together and took JJ and Noah to their room before Julio pointed out that there was a Wii with games and a TV over in a side area. They all agreed to play a little before hitting the hay.

For a while they stayed like that. Laughing and playfully nudging eachother when one of the others beat them in a game. It was nostalgic for them. For a second Ruby stopped and drew the others attention.

"Wow. Its...been a long time since we did this type of thing together, huh?" She said. The others nodded, seemingly thinking on it.

"God, yeah. It has been hasn't it?" Jackson said.

"Quite literally thirteen years. Wow. It honestly doesn't seem like its been all that long to be completely honest." Duncan replied.

The rest of the group fell silent in thought.

"Ya know, I never actually thought that I would ever be able to be a part of this again." Heathcliff said quietly.

"I doubt any of us did. It always seemed like an impossibility to me. Even if I hoped it wasn't." Flinch replied, placing his head in his hands in a thoughtful position.

"We were just a bunch of kids doing our best to save the world. Years after the NERDS got shut down we're doing it again. Or, trying to do it again." Matilda butted in. For a little bit, it was quiet again. The group thinking back on everything that they had done years before.

"I missed this." Julio said after a while. The others smiled slightly and nodded.

"Yeah. Its really good to see you all after such a long time." Heathcliff said.

"I mean, we were so used to our boring lives without all the cool saving the world stuff but suddenly woop! Looks like you get to do it again!" He threw his arms up dramatically at the woop. Ruby started giggling. Soon enough the others started following. Within a minute the entire group were gasping and wheezing for breath as they laughed jubilantly. It took a while for all the laughing to die down, eventually slowing to a stop, but leaving them all smiling.

"God it feels like we never even left the NERDS." Jackson said with a sigh.

"Gotta agree with you on that one bud. It really doesn't." Matilda replied.

"I'm just happy we all get to be back together like this. We're gonna need eachother to be able to do this. I highly doubt that most of us have been keeping in practice all these years." Ruby said, thinking for a moment. The others looked at one another, grimacing and realizing that, no, they hadn't been keeping in practice all this time.

"Well, guess that just means we're gonna need the old training room ay?" Duncan said, grinning. The others nodded. For a little while they continued to chat and catch up until they all agreed that they were going to need some sleep and headed off to their respective rooms. Tomorrow was going to be an eventful day.


	17. Playground sweet playground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly "home" but its good enough

As the group grew closer and closer to their destination, JJ was beginning to become both extremely excited and nervous at the same time. They were almost jumping up and down. They stopped for a second before calling to Ruby, who was driving.

"Hey, Ruby? There might be a problem here." Ruby turned to them and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" JJ shifted nervously, looking out the window and looking around the road they were driving on.

"Well, there are usually goons walking around and patroling the areas around the town. We might draw attention if we stay in the car." The groups eyes widened.

"Crap. Your right. In that case we'll need to park it somewhere safe and go from there." Ruby said. The others nodded and they continued driving down the road until JJ made it clear that they were getting close.

They parked the car a ways away and jumped out. JJ put their arms out, halting the group from going too far into the town.

"Alright, so, if I'm correct, there should be a somewhat clear path to the school. I mapped out a good amount of routes that the goons follow before, and we should have about thirty minutes before they enter our path. But keep in mind I didn't mark all of them, so there might be paths unaccounted for. So we need to move quickly and quietly just in case." Everyone agreed with this, and continued on as such. A couple minutes in, they heard voices. Quickly, dived behind a corner, peeking out. There was a group of five goons marching down the street, and they were quickly approaching. JJ flitted their gaze around, looking for a hiding place or something of the sort. They contemplated running back to a different street, but by then the goons would probably have seen them, and then it would be a mess anyway.

"Sooo, uhhhh, anyway we do this is gonna be a mess, soooo, anyone wanna bust some heads?" JJ asked apprehensively. Matilda immediately got an intimidating grin on her face and cracked her knuckles.

"I have no problem with that." she said. The others shook their heads.

"You haven't changed Matilda. You haven't changed." Duncan said with a smile. The others looked at each other and nodded.

"We might be a little out of practice, but I think we can do it. Anyone else?" Jackson said. The others nodded and stood up. JJ motioned for Noah to stay there however. He nodded, knowing full well there was no way he could take down a man who was easily three times his size.

They all waited until the goons were just close enough to their corner before they rushed them. Ruby slid around the corner and immediately delivered a strong punch to one of the goons throats. The other goons only had seconds to react before the others jumped out. Jackson had rugby tackled one of them while Matilda delivered a good few punches into anothers solar plexus. JJ snuck up behind one and jumped up onto his back with a battlecry and putting their hands over his eyes so he couldn't see. Julio and Duncan worked together to grab one of the goons and slammed him into a wall, rendering him unconscious. Kicking one of the goons legs out from under him, Ruby pressed down onto a pressure point in his neck and he fainted.

JJ was still lached firmly onto a goons back as he flailed and grasped at them in a failed attempt to get them off. After a couple seconds of this he tipped over and fell back onto them, eliciting a cry of pain. JJ growled, reaching out a hand to a nearby trashcan. It lifted off the ground, and as the goon got up to turn on JJ it flew straight into his face, knocking him backwards. They continued to slam the trashcan onto his head until he seemed sufficiently unconscious. The two remaining goons attempted to flee, but Heathcliff was already delivering quick kicks to the backs of their legs, causing them to fold like lawn chairs. After that Matilda and Jackson quickly dispatched them and the group wooped and congratulated eachother.

"Not all that rusty after all ey?" Duncan said with a laugh. The group grinned and continued on. Luckily no more events like that happened, and JJ took a mental note of the extra patrol. Soon enough the base/school came into view. As it did, everyone's mouth dropped. (excluding JJ and Noah of course.) Around the school was a tall wall of mish mashed metal slabs and screws and bolts. Duncan and Heathcliff both ran up to inspect it. Duncan knocked on it and Heathcliff ran his hands along the edges. They were surprised to find that it seemmed extremely sturdy. JJ walked up behind them and grinned proudly.

"This was a real pain in the ass to make happen. I had to go all over the place and rip metal stuff off of stuff. Luckily I had something to ride on most of the time." Jackson looked at them curiously.

"What were you riding in? JJ giggled excitedly.

" You'll see. Come on!"

JJ gestured to the large medieval style door and flicked their hand down. Seconds later it came crashing down. The group jumped and JJ flinched.

"Sorry, I'm not the best at controlling really big things like that." They said with an apologetic look on their face, rubbing the back of their head. The others waved it off. Opting to go inside the walls and enter the building instead. The inside of the school had been renovated quite considerably. All the lockers but the ones that JJ had found to be enterences to the playground. The rooms had been stripped of most of their content, at least metal wise. There was one room that held various weapons, such as guns, knives, staffs, bows, and the like. JJ explained that they got this stuff from weapon stores around the the town when the group got confused.

Walking down the hall, they came to another room that held all the gadgets that were previously in the playground. Suddenly Duncan seemed to see something and he rushed over to it, snatching it up.

"Benjamin!" He cried. The other adults came to his side immediately as he said this, taking a look at the unmistakable metal ball in his hand.

"Holy crap! It really is Benjamin!" Julio said. JJ looked at them, confused.

"Benjamin? Is that what its called? I tried to fix it, but I'm not really familiar with that stuff. There's a lot of broken wires and chips and stuff." They gestured their hands a little, and the ball split, showing the group the broken parts inside. Duncan looked it over for a minute before nodding.

"It might take a while, but I'm pretty sure I can fix this." JJ clapped their hands.

"Awesome! Now that that's out of the way, shall we continue?" they said, gesturing to the hall.

Nodding, everyone followed them back out and continued them back out to continue the tour. JJ walked them around for a little while longer, showing them what they had changed and things like that. When they finally finished showing the upper floor, it was time to head to the playground. The group filed into their respective lockers, although not before stopping to let the nostalgia hit them as they did. Soon enough they were flying through tubes and tunnels, ups and downs, lefts and rights, until they suddenly stopped as a wind caught them from their free fall and plopped them onto a pile of blankets, cushions, pillows, and the like. They looked at them confusedly, looking to JJ for explanation. They shrugged.

"I didn't want a repeat of the painful drop when I first got here. So I put those down to make sure it didn't happen again. I was just too lazy to move them even when I fixed the fan. Its more fun that way anyway. So whatever."

All of the adults looked around the playground as a wave of memories and nostalgia flooded into them. They all went and looked the place over, looking into the computer as well as many of the things that JJ had previously fixed and moved. They did this well into the night, talking and pointing things out and such. JJ quickly offered to make some rooms for them out of the rooms upstairs. The group agreed, and JJ went to work, making them in almost less than an hour. Thoroughly exhausted they headed all headed to sleep. Before she left, Ruby turned to JJ.

"Where are you sleeping anyway?" She asked.

"Right over there actually." They gestured to the corner of the room as they said this. In the corner was an large fluffy thing that looked extremely similar to a beanbag, although it was clearly not. It was a burnt orangy color, with a blanket of a little darker color. Ruby nodded and exited the playground, seemingly satisfied. JJ yawned. Plodding over to the beanbag bed type thing, they plopped onto it and fell asleep quickly


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is pandemonium in the morning, JJ apparently DOES actually have a codename, and the NERDS are upgraded once more

It had always been a saying in Ruby's family that in order to be in it you had to have an appetite for chaos. Luckily she was used to it, but this was different. Much, Much different. And she didn't think she was awake enough for this yet. Ruby had woken up fairly normally, and had gone to go get food from the cafeteria. However as she got closer she heard unmistakable screams and the like. She had quickly rushed down the hall and slammed open the double doors to find absolute chaos. The fire detectors were going off and the sprinklers were raining down due to a large fire that was in the stove. JJ was pressed against the wall opposite to it and making very loud sounds that closely resembled that of a fire truck.

Noah was in the corner curled up in a ball and crying silently. Jackson was attempting to put the flames out by fanning a towel at it, but unfortunately it only made it worse, as well as caught the towel on fire. He tossed it to Julio who was standing nearby and he immediately screamed as it caught the edge of his shirt on fire and he dropped it, flailing his arm furiously. Heathcliff was passed out on the floor and Matilda was shaking him hard, trying to get him to wake uo while Duncan discouraged her. Ruby fiercely considered going back to bed at the moment, but she sighed and

to help. She quickly went to the sink, getting a cup of water and using it to splash on Heathcliff to make him wake up. After that she went into the hall, grabbing a fire extinguisher and walking back in. After spraying Julio's arm, she went to the oven and sprayed that as well, quickly putting out the fire.

After that she slapped a hand over JJ's mouth, immediately quieting the siren noises that were coming out of their mouth. After that she decided to take a look at what had caused the fire to start. Inside the oven were what looked to be eight almost void black circles that were likely English muffins before they had been desecrated. JJ gave her a sheepish look.

"I tried to make breakfast." They said, gesturing to the quite nearly vantablack objects. Ruby gave them a incredulous look.

"You made these?" She tapped one on the counter in front of her. It made a loud thunking sound that was admittedly not supposed to be heard from English muffins. She looked at it for a second before reeling her arm back and throwing it at the wall. When it hit the wall immediately made a loud CRACK sound as it broke and gave way to the object. For a second everyone was completely quiet.

Julio walked up to the two of them.

"I think I should probably take on cooking from here." Simultaneously, everyone nodded. In a couple minutes they had breakfast with them. Luckily no more incidents had happened. After they had finished eating Matilda made something known.

"So, if we're back on the NERDS again, shouldn't we get our upgrades reinstalled?" She inquired. They all looked at eachother, grinned, and nodded.

"Let's do it." Jackson said. Heathcliff paused them.

"We'll need to reprogram the upgrade room first though. We all know it doesn't give adults upgrades." He pointed out. Duncan smiled.

"That shouldn't be much of a problem. We could probably do it in an hour." The group agreed, and Duncan and Heathcliff quickly went down to the playground to work on it. Like they said, it didn't take all that long. Within the hour the upgrade room was updated and fixed. Soon enough the adults were standing in front of the door to the upgrade room while JJ and Noah stood nearby.

Heathcliff paused before trotting over and standing next to them. The kids gave him questioning looks.

"Aren't you gonna go get your upgrades?" JJ asked. Heathcliff shook his head.

"I doubt that being able to have my parents remember me would exactly be a practical upgrade. Really useless actually." They shrugged. Accepting the answer. Meanwhile, one by one the others entered the upgrade room. After a while all of them came out, fully upgraded once again after so many years. JJ jumped up and down excitedly.

"Okay okay okay. You gotta show us what you can do!" They cried. Noah had a similar excited look on his face.

"Yeah! Show us!" The others looked at eachother.

"I'm pretty sure a couple of us need to find our gadgets first." Matilda said. The kids made a "ohhhh" noise, and everyone but Heathcliff, Duncan, and Ruby went to go get them.

Duncan was first to test out his upgrades. He extended his arms, and a large grin went across his face as a layer of sticky film began to appear on it. Turning to a wall, he sprinted full speed at it, and ran up it easily once he got there. Climbing up to the ceiling, he let himself hang there as JJ and Noah clapped and squealed excitedly. Throwing a hand out, a burst of the glue came from his hands and splatted against the other wall. Walking back down the wall to the ground he laughed.

"Wow! It feels great to do that again!" He said. Next in the order was Ruby.

"Alright JJ. I'm gonna ask you to come at me OK?" JJ stiffened a little.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna hurt you." They said back. Ruby shook her head.

"If my upgrades are working right, then you definitely won't." JJ nodded slightly and rushed her, attempting a ball kick to her stomach.

Ruby dodged nimbly out of the way of the kick. Keeping their leg out, JJ spun around, trying to catch her off guard, but Ruby jumped back out of the way, once again causing the attack to miss. JJ got up close and sent a couple punches at her throat, which she caught with her hands, pushing them backwards. JJ Let themselves drop on all fours, kicking their leg out and towards Ruby's knee. She caught the leg easily. Nodding in satisfaction she let go of JJ's leg and helped them up. Heathcliff clapped a little from the sidelines.

"My upgrades all seem to be in working order. Also, you seemed like you really knew what you were doing. You almost hit me a couple times! Where did you learn those moves?" She said. JJ let a wide grin overtake their face.

"One of my moms is a karate teacher! She shows me how to do all sorts of awesome stuff!" They replied, puffing up their chest proudly. Ruby made a small o with her mouth, and nodded in understanding.

"That makes sense." She said.

A couple minutes later, the others entered the room. Matilda was holding two red inhalers in her hands, Julio was wearing a harness that seemed to cover most of his body, and Jackson was wearing what looked to be some kind of metal vest or chest plate of some kind around his chest.

"Got our stuff! If it works or not isn't clear though." Jackson said, walking up to them with the others.

"only one way to find out, right?" Matilda said, grinning. She immediately rushed a couple feet away, and pushed down on the plungers of the inhalers. Immediately plumes of flame came out of the inhalers, propelling Matilda into the air. She wobbled slightly as she attempted to get used to the controls again. Soon enough she was buzzing in circles around the room, laughing all the while. Eventually she set herself down in front of the group as they clapped, and Noah and JJ jumped up and down happily.

Next to show off was Julio. Reaching to a knob on the center of his harness, he clicked it to one side a couple times. He started shivering and yelled

"I am mighty!" With a wide grin before sprinting a circle around the room. Papers were lifted off the ground and blew around as he went past. Quicker than a blink of an eye, he was next to Noah and JJ, picking them both up into the air easily with one hand for each. They giggled and clapped as he did so.

"Man its great to do that again!" He laughed, placing the kids back onto the ground. Going over to a group of desks, he picked them up one by one and threw them up nearly to the ceiling with ease. Catching them and putting them back down onto the floor. He flicked the switch down a couple notches and went back over to the group, gesturing for Jackson to start. Jackson nodded and stepped forward.

"I don't really know how well this is going to work. My braces got removed a long long time ago." He grimaced before shrugging.

"Eh, hope for the best I guess." He focused for a second, and soon enough, four long spiderlike legs came out of the metal vest that he was wearing, lifting him off of the ground.

"Oh. That works just as well." He said. Dropping back down to the floor, two tentacles came out, wrapping around his arms and creating large fists that he threw a couple punches with. After that he used a tentacle to pick up JJ and place them onto his shoulders. They wooped and leaned down towards Noah, tugging him up and placing him onto their shoulders. The group laughed as they goofed around a little. That is until JJ and Noah nearly fell off and Ruby stopped them. After a couple more tests with everyone Heathcliff spoke up.

"Well, everyones upgrades seem to be in working order! So thats good!" The others nodded in agreement.

"God its been so long since I actually hung off a ceiling." Duncan said. Everyone laughed. Heathcliff paused, thinking for a second.

"Hey JJ, did you get a codename when you got upgraded?" JJ thought before remembering.

"Oh yeah! I did! Its fidget." They said happily.

"Nice." Matilda said. JJ clapped their hands together.

"Alright! So now that we have our upgrades, I think its time to get down to businesses. I didn't make a plan for what we would do once we got to this point sooooo, um, any ideas?" everyone looked at them incredulously.

"You didn't make a plan."

"No."

"You seriously just got all of us together with zero idea how we were gonna beat the bad guy."

"Yeah." Ruby sighed, dragging a hand down her face.

"Well if that's the case we better start thinking."


	19. Book of doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which JJ expresses their concerns for the team

"Hey. Hey Ruby. Whatca doin? Ruby. Ruuuuuubbbbbyyyy." Ruby groaned, rubbing her face. She turned around, of course to JJ's face right in front of hers. They were laying out on a flat piece of metal that was floating in the air, and twirling their scrap in their fingers with a bored look. Ruby sighed.

"Trying to read." She replied. Indeed, she was currently sitting on a couch in the playground with a book in her hands. JJ groaned.

"Boooooorrrriiinnggg." Ruby pushed JJ away. For a minute they simply floated there before asking a simple question.

"So what's up with you and Jackson, huh?" Ruby, who had gone to take a sip from her coffee mug, immediately did a spit take.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." She said. JJ raised a brow.

"I'm not a dumbass ya know. There's obviously some tension there. Is he like, your ex or something?" Ruby jerked her head at JJ.

"NO." She coughed, sighing and rubbing her face.

"It just that when we were seventeen, we had a lot of, um, feelings. And just before the thing with the FBI happened we kinda, ah, you know what? Nevermind." She suddenly seemed to take a great interest in her mug, badly concealing a blush. JJ seemed to immediately get it.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!" JJ cried with a grin. Ruby shot a hand out and grabbed their mouth, glaring harshly.

"Not a single word." She hissed. JJ giggled and wiggled their eyebrows at her, but nodded. Ruby let go of their mouth and sighed.

"It was a long time ago anyway." She said, going back to her book.

JJ continued to float there on the piece of metal silently for a minute.

"Hey. Ruby. Can I ask you something?" They asked. Their voice wavered uncertainty, which was very out of character for the normally confident child. Ruby turned to them and raised a brow.

"Sure. What is it?" JJ sighed.

"Well, I just wanna know if you really wanna be here to do this. I mean, its really dangerous, and you still have a lot of probably better and less dangerous stuff to do. Its been a really long time since you did this stuff and leading a team again will probably be really stressful. I dunno. I'm probably just talking outta my ass here." JJ grimaced. Ruby paused, slightly surprised at the question. She paused for a moment before putting a bookmark in her book and closing it.

"I'm gonna be blunt with you. I don't really know in all honesty. This whole thing has been a fiasco and a half. It was years ago when I was an agent and whether I'm ready or not to deal with all of this is something I've yet to figure out."

For a second, JJ was quiet. Finally, they nodded.

"Alright. I just wanted to ask. I'm gonna ask the others too. I just don't wanna force all of you into this. This whole saving the world plan thing was just kinda a spur of the moment adrenaline type thing. I never actually thought I would be able to do this. I guess I'm just a little to proud for my own good." They laughed bitterly for a second. Ruby sighed.

"We all do that at one point or another. The important thing is that it worked. You got us all together, which was a miracle in and of itself. Whether the whole saving the world thing will work is to be seen, but at least we're still doing something." She replied, patting their shoulder. JJ smiled slightly before crisscrossing their legs across the metal stab.

"I guess that's true. Thanks. ...Soooooo, whatcha reading?" They said, peeking over Rubys shoulder at the book she had opened once again.

"Sherlock Holmes." JJ made a small o with their mouth and grinned.

"Oh! I love those books!" Ruby gave them an incredulous look.

"You don't seem like the type to like these types of books." They rolled their eyes.

"I get that a lot. But hey, I still do." Ruby shrugged, accepting the answer.

"Well you can read over my shoulder if you really want to." She said. JJ nodded, floating a little bit closer and placing their head on hers to do so. It was peaceful for a while, which was surprising to say due to fact that most of the time the group was together and doing something. It wasn't exactly unpleasant. Considering JJ's usually loud and occasionally annoying behaviour, it was a surprise to see them as calm as they were. Although calm, they also seemed a bit worried.

"Hey. What's up. You look down." Ruby said after a while. JJ jerked a bit at the question.

"Oh, its nothin. I'm fine." Ruby raised a brow.

"Obviously not. Did you forget that I'm allergic to lying?"

JJ cringed at the question.

"Oh. Yeah. Its whatever. I'm just being dramatic cause my moms aren't answering their phones. I've been texting and calling and stuff but so far, no reply. I know they probably just left their phones or chargers at home, but if they did, they definitely would have called from another phone. I just don't know. I hope their safe." Ruby seemed to think on it for a second, before patting their back.

"I would say I thought their fine, but that would just be a flat out lie. Its definitely weird, and we can only hope that thats the case." JJ nodded.

"Yeah. I guess so." They didn't seem all that comforted, but it was something. Shaking their head they pulled back from Ruby.

"I gotta go ask the other guys the question. Don't want any unwilling members am I right?" They chuckled awkwardly for a second before hopping off the piece of metal they were previously on, and swiftly exiting the area.


	20. Tvs and teasing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The question continues

Luckily for JJ it didn't take long to find someone else. After a minute of searching they were able to find Jackson lounging around in the common room that JJ they had made not too long ago. They waved and called over to him.

"Hey Jackson! Sup!" They said. Jackson waved back and gestured to the TV on the other side of the room that was playing some sort of show.

"Nothing much. What about you?" JJ shrugged, trodding over and plopping themselves down next to him.

"Same. I just came around cause I really really really needed to ask you something." Jackson raised a brow.

"Shoot kid." JJ nodded.

"I mean, I don't know if its a stupid question to ask or not, but do you really wanna be here? I mean, don't you have a lot of other things you need to do? And I can't guarantee that we're gonna be able to win this fight. Like, yeah, if we don't do this, this dude is probably gonna take over the world anyway, so there's that, but you would probably still have a chance at living if he caught you. But if he knows you're one of the guys fighting him, he might not be all that "merciful" to you. Not like he's merciful towards anyone else though."

Jackson seemed a bit confused at the question.

"Well, I mean, yeah, that's true, but I'm still pretty happy to be here. Sure some stuff might go down, but in all honesty I'm actually kinda excited to do this stuff again. Its been a long time, but I can't say I'm not excited to be here." JJ grinned, nodding. They turned to the TV that was still playing, leaning back into the couch and kicking their feet up onto the coffee table that had been placed there. For a little bit they stayed and watched the pictures move across the and at one point went and grabbed two small chip bags. Suddenly JJ got a small smirk on their face, and without turning to Jackson, said

"Sooooo, you and Ruby used to be a thing?" Jackson immediately choked, and sputtered for a second.

"What makes you think that?"

JJ giggled slightly in a mischievous way.

"Oh nothing. Ruby just let a little info slip." They said, wiggling their eyebrows at him. Jackson cringed a bit, and ran his fingers back through his hair.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago though. Like, a very long time. Should kids like you be knowing about this type of stuff anyway?" JJ raised a brow.

"I'm twelve. Yeah I know about this stuff." Jackson gave them an incredulous look.

"Twelve? You look ten at most." If glares were physical forces, there is no doubt that Jackson would have been wiped off the face of the earth.

"Yeah I'm short. What of it motherfucker?" They said, voice dripping with venomous malice that, arguably, shouldn't be able to be used by a child. Jackson cringed backwards at the tone and laughed nervously.

"I mean, its not all that much of a bad thing. At least you can actually fit in the entrance lockers without having to squeeze in." He said. JJ thought for a second before nodding.

"Yeah that's true I guess. Still. Make another comment on my height and I'm slicing you in half." They threatened. Jackson nodded.

"Duly noted." He said. JJ shook their head.

"Hey. By the way, I was just kinda curious, and I wanted to ask, did any of your parents ever find out about your lives as spies?" They asked with a curious glint in their eyes. Jackson nodded.

"Not a lot of us, but yeah, Duncan's parents, Matildas parents, and my dad and brother knew about it. As far as I know, Duncan's family always knew. Matildas and mine found out a little later. Although I only revealed it since I kinda had too." JJ grinned.

"Do tell." They said. Jackson shrugged.

"Well, a long while back, when I basically just started, there was a whole entire thing that we don't really need to go into that involved an ex assassin that, not gonna lie, I had my first kiss with as well as had a giant crush on for a while, messing up a lot of missions because I was an arrogant dick, getting kicked off the team temporarily for those reasons, and having to go off with that assassin to save said team from an evil dude that just so happened to be led by one of our teammates-" JJ cut him off at this.

"You mean Heathcliff." Jackson completely froze.

"Uhhh, yeah. Where'd you find that out?" He asked, slightly nervous.

"I just kinda got a context clue from Ruby before asking him about it. He told me pretty much everything. I don't really care though. He's a cool guy now." Jackson let out a small sigh of relief.

"Yeah, alright. Anyway, long story short, I came in a rocket to tell my dad that the earlier breakdown with the things about being a spy wasn't actually a breakdown and that I would be late for supper. So there's that story. I'll probably tell you more when I feel like it." JJ laughed.

"Yeah! You better." They said. They stretched for a second.

"Alright. Its been fun but I have more people to ask stuff. I'm pretty sure I know where a few of them are though." They said, hopping off of the couch. They went to the door, waving to Jackson as they left.


	21. Floating buddy ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duncan finally fixes Benjamin and JJ continues to be anxious about the groups reasoning for staying

JJ jogged down the corridors of the school turned base down into the hall that housed the playground enterences. Opening one of the lockers and sliding into it easily, they shut the door behind them and soon enough, the floor dropped out under them and they fell through the tunnel. After a good amount of flip flopping all over the place, a wind stopped their fall and placed them gently onto the ground. They glanced around for a second, and sure enough, there was Duncan. He was sitting at one of the desks at the side of the room and fiddling around with "Benjamin" as it had been called. He saw them drop down into the playground, and waved them over excitedly.

"JJ! Come here for a second!" He called. JJ walked briskly over to his side and took a look at the metal ball in his hands.

"Hey Duncan. Sup." Duncan had a wide grin stretched across his face. For a second he screwed one last bolt into place onto the little thing, before placing it on the desk, looking very proud of himself.

"So, I haven't actually told you all that much about Benjamin have I?" JJ shook their head.

"Uhhh, no. I don't think so. You only said something about it being a robot." Duncan nodded.

"Yes. Well, not just a robot. An AI. A supercomputer of sorts. When we had to destroy the playground, we had to leave pretty much everything here. It wasn't something where we could pick up everything we needed to and move it to a new base. The FBI had found out more or less everything. All our bases and everything was compromised and had to be destroyed. Benjamin unfortunately along with it. Benjamin was an amazing AI. He actually went home with me most of the time. We were all sad that he had to go. But I'm not going to waste time talking about him. I think it would be better if he did the talking for me."

With those words, he lifted the ball up, pressing a button on the side of it. For a second, nothing happened. Duncan cringed, thinking that maybe he had gotten something wrong, but not a moment later, blue lights flickered on in the ball, and it floated above his hand. Duncan wooped loudly in joy.

"Benjamin! Welcome back!" Benjamin floated a circle around Duncan.

"Duncan? What happened? I thought that the playground, as well as I were destroyed? My scans are showing that it has been aproximately thirteen years since I was last turned on." JJ reeled back.

"Holy crap it can talk!" They yelled. Benjamin turned to the child, flitting around their head.

"And who are you? If my scans are correct, you seem to have nano technology inside of you." JJ gave the floating ball an curious, but excited look.

"JJ! They them pronouns by the way. And yeah, I got the upgrades. And you're a robot? Or, AI. Whatever the heck they call you." Benjamin settled for hovering lightly over Duncan's shoulder.

"Why yes. Yes I am. It is a pleasure to meet you JJ, my name is Benjamin. It would be greatly appreciated if you could explain to me how we are here in this arguably not destroyed playground." JJ nodded to Duncan.

"Well its kinda a long story." They both said.

"I'm sure we have time to explain." He said back. Duncan and JJ looked at eachother before JJ shrugged.

"Sure, why not." They said. For the next couple minutes they proceeded to explain the situation to Benjamin, who luckily could go online to connect any missing dots himself.

"Well this is certainly a situation. I will do my best to help." JJ clapped.

"Awesome! But other than that, I came down here to ask you a question, Duncan."

"Shoot." He said.

"Alright. My question is if you want to be here. I know its probably a stupid question, even though I'm gonna ask everyone it, but give me a straight answer. I mean, this is kinda a really dangerous thing to be doing, and you could probably die to be honest. Sooooo, yeah." Duncan raised a brow.

"I mean, yeah! Of course I do. Sure its dangerous, but I can't say I don't miss that. Yeah, being a technical engineer is a pretty awesome job, but it kinda lacks the excitement that you get with being a spy. The fact that I get to see all my friends again is a big plus too." JJ grinned and clapped their hands once.

"Great! Now I only got three more people to ask! I'm gonna go do that." They said. They walked over to the exit, and waved once before pressing the button that sent them back up to the hallway above. Hopping out of the locker, they thought for a second before remembering something and trodding over to one of the other halls. They had a good idea where one of the others might be.


	22. Wrestling with feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of somewhat heavy talk(?) And JJ has two moms

JJ skipped lightly down the hall to the gym. They had turned it into more or less of a workout and upper training room quite easily. All they really needed to do was get some things from around town from local gyms. Easy as pie. They approached the gym, and sure enough, loud cracks and grunts were coming from there. Trodding into the room, they saw Matilda punching one of the training dummys with deadly accuracy. They stood to the side watching her for a minute as she struck the dummy with a combo of kicks and punches, but eventually broke her concentration by calling out.

"Yo! Matilda!" Matilda paused what she was doing and pivoted to see JJ standing over to the side. She grinned, waved and jogged over.

"Hey JJ. Whats up?" JJ shrugged.

"Nothing much. Just passing the time. Those are some pretty cool moves. You should fight me sometime." Matilda laughed.

"Ha! I wouldn't want to hurt you kid. No offence, but I've been in the wrestling business for years. I'm not exactly someone you want to fight."

JJ just shrugged with a nonchalant look.

"Eh. One of my moms has been teaching me martial arts more or less since I was born. I'm pretty sure I could handle myself in a fight." They said confidently. Matilda sighed, raised an eyebrow, and seemed to think for a minute. She shook her head and placed her hands on her hips.

"Know what? Alright kid. I'll give you a couple free hits and see how strong you are." She got into a ready but open stance, bracing for JJ's hits. JJ hopped up and down in delight with a grin on their face for a second before shifting into a fighting stance.

"Alrighty! Here I come!" They called before rushing forward. Coming in close, they threw a roundhouse kick into Matilda's side, before pulling it back and sending a side kick into her gut with the same leg. Matilda gasped slightly for the air that had left her lungs at the kicks.

Before she could fully get her breath back, JJ pulled their hand into a fist near their ear before sending a swift hammer strike to her temple. Matilda stumbled slightly to the side as her vision faded out for a second from the hit. JJ shot around behind her and wrapped an arm around her neck in a chokehold. Matilda at this point decided to end it there, and grabbed JJ's arms before flipping them over her shoulder and onto the ground in front of her. Both laughed as JJ hopped back onto their feet.

"Alright alright. Not too shabby! If I wasn't me, I'd probably be passed out on the ground right now! Those were some pretty solid hits right there." JJ beamed proudly.

"Heck yeah they were! My mom is pretty damn awesome for teaching me them!" Matilda got a curious look.

"So, who are your moms anyway?" She asked.

JJ paused for a second before remembering something.

"Oh! Oh! I have a couple pictures of them on my phone! Hold on one second." They reached into their pocket and pulled out said phone. For a minute they tapped away, swiping at different pictures before finding what they were looking for.

"Found em! Take a look!" They handed their phone over to Matilda and she looked at it. On the screen were two women. One of the woman was fairly slight. Her skin was a pale peachy color, mottled with many freckles that dotted across her cheeks and nose, and her eyes were a dark sea blue. She was wearing a white turtleneck sweater and a pair of black leggings on. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short and spiked slightly at the front. Her expression was very calm, a slight smile played at her lips as she looked at the woman beside her who had an arm draped around her shoulders.

The woman who had an arm on the other was very tall, taller than Jackson even, and had slightly muscular, although she had a slight bit of flab on her stomach showing through the purple short sleeved shirt with black flame marks along the bottom. Her hair was a dark, almost black, brown color. It was extremely poofy and was pulled into a high ponytail out of her face. Her skin was a chestnut brown and her eyes like chocolate. She held a confident and jubilant air around her and had a wide grin on her face, making her eyes shine and crinkle at the edges as well as making her dimples show. The two women looked happy together, and when inspected, it showed that both women had beautifully crafted wedding rings on their ring fingers. The picture was taken in front of a large wooden windmill in the middle of a large field of flowers.

After appreciating the photo, Matilda swiped to the next. This one showed the smaller woman in a karate uniform, a black belt tied tightly around her waist. Her legs were spread shoulder length apart and her hands were clasped firmly behind her. The photo seemed to be taken in front of a wall with an assortment of spears, staffs, and swords behind her. Next picture showed the taller of the two with a pair of tongs holding a piece of glowing hot metal pinched between it. The area was quite obviously a smithing area, with a furnace glowing in the background along with a few tables and cabinets. Tools were littered along the tables and hung onto walls. Swiping to the next photo, it showed both the women as well as JJ. JJ was sitting atop the tall womans shoulders, waving to the camera with one hand while the other steadied them using her mothers head and looking into the camera. The smaller woman had an arm wrapped around the tallers waist, and was looking up into her eyes, which the taller reprocrated. The group was standing in an apple orchard it seemed.

The next photo was obviously a continuation to the last, showing the taller woman leaning down to the smaller, eyes closed seemingly for a kiss. The smallers eyes were also closed and had her head tilted up to begin to meet her lips. JJ however, did not seem as enthusiastic, as their position on their mothers shoulders was slipping away as she leaned down, the look on their face comically terrified. Swiping to the next one, Matilda couldn't help but let out a loud guffaw as the picture showed JJ toppling backwards off their mothers shoulders as both women looked back in a mixture of surprise and horror as their child began their flailing decent to the ground. JJ looked at this photo with Matilda and laughed.

"Oh yeah! I remember that. What you don't see in the photo is me landing in a puddle of mud. Ha!" Matilda snorted loudly at the addition before swiping again.

There were a whole lot of photos in there. Some were of JJ's moms doing things together, some were of them playing in a park, some were of them just chilling, some were of JJ's mom teaching them martial arts. There was one thing that was similar in every picture though. They were happy. In every picture that was taken, even in the small ones where nothing much was happening, all of their eyes shone bright with happiness. Matilda smiled lightly.

"You all seem very happy." She said. JJ nodded.

"We get that a lot. You're only really getting a little bit of our lives though. Sure we're really happy in these photos, but there are a lot of times that weren't like that. The fact that my moms are a same sex and interracial couple gets a lot of ridicule and stuff because of that. There have even been some people who tried to take me away from them because of that. The fact that I don't identify with a gender also gets me pushed around a lot. People always seem to hate what they don't seem to be able to understand or if something is different from them. If you stray from what people call "normal" you're bound to run into a lot of trouble." They said.

Matilda nodded in understanding.

"Yeah. Thats one of the reasons that we NERDS became spys in the first place. We were all bullied and pushed around because we looked and acted differently than the others. Its a shitty thing that always seems to happen." She said back. JJ sighed.

"Yup. Real shitty." They said. It was quiet for a minute, both of them contemplating these things, before JJ shook their head and looked at Matilda.

"Anyway, I didn't come here just to chat. I needed to ask you something." They said. Matilda shrugged.

"Go ahead kiddo." JJ nodded.

"Alright. Its a weird question, but do you really want to be here? I'm just asking because, hey, this is a really fuckin reckless and dangerous thing we're pulling here. I want to make sure you don't want to, like, leave and actually do something thats not possibly life endangering." Matilda stared. And stared. And stared. Then a quiet snort came out of her mouth. It evolved into giggles, before going into full blown laughter. JJ looked at her, confused. Once Matilda was done with her fit, she wiped a tear from her eye and shook her head.

"Hell yeah I want to be here! Kicking bad guy ass? Saving the world on a daily basis? Flying around with my inhalers? Being with my friends who are also super spys? Thats something I've wanted to go back to more than anything for the longest time. Yeah, being a pro wrestler is awesome, but lemme tell ya, nothing beats being a super spy. Not in a million years." She said with a grin. She smacked JJ on the back reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I'm not leaving any time soon." JJ smiled and nodded.

"Awesome! Now if you don't mind, I have two more people to ask the same damn question." They said. Matilda nodded and JJ walked away, giving her finger guns and a small click of the tounge as they exited. Satisfied with the outcome of this convo, they knew exactly where one more of the NERDS would be. JJ proceeded onwards to the next of the NERDS.


	23. Candied questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julio explains what happened to the NERDS, and JJ now has a vendetta against savage

JJ hummed lightly as they twirled down the hall towards the cafeteria. It was usually fairly boring in the base, unless it was a scouting day that is. So, usually they just had to make their own fun. Whether it be bothering one of the NERDS, playing around with their upgrades to test their limits, laying down outside and watching the clouds roll by, or playing with Noah, they would do mostly anything to busy themselves. Sliding over to the cafeteria doorway, they pushed it open and entered. Sure enough, just like they thought, there was Julio sitting down at one of the tables near the middle of the room, chewing on some sort of bar. JJ wouldn't know. Julio looked over to them when they opened the door and waved. JJ waved back jogging over to him.

"Hey Julio. What's going on?" They asked.

"Akfnndkek." Julio replied. JJ paused, staring with a raised eyebrow.

Julio reached up, turning the knob on his harness.

"Sorry. Nothing much. Geez, I haven't had something like that happen in a long while! Mostly because of the fact that I was pretty much told I had to regulate my sugar intake after everything in the playground was destroyed and I didn't have my harness anymore." JJ nodded, sliding into a seat across from him.

"That makes sense. What happened with you guys and the playground thing anyway? People keep giving me bits and pieces of what happened, but I still don't know much other than the fact that the FBI, government, whatever, had to do with it." They said. Julio sighed, running a hand down his face.

"Well, thats not wrong. It did have to do with the government. Basically what happened was this asshole named savage who was working with us at the time, decided it was a good idea to leak almost all of the information about the NERDS to the government. Now, here's the thing, that wouldn't be a problem had it not been for the fact that most of the government doesn't actually know about us. Luckily for us, no info about the members was leaked, but all info about base locations, tech, and things like that got leaked. After that, we knew that the government was gonna be coming for us, so we unfortunately had to take out our upgrades, and destroy the playground, as well as all other bases and things affiliated with the NERDS." JJ frowned.

"Wow. That savage guy was a real dickhole wasn't he?" JJ said. Julio nodded, wrapping the candy wrapper into a ball and throwing it across the room into a trashcan. JJ clapped and Julio mockingly bowed.

"He was. Not really sunshine and rainbows if you know what I mean." He said. JJ laughed.

"Yeah I get it. Did you guys have a leader or something that ordered that?" Julio grinned, nodding.

"Yeah! We were being led by a guy named brand. He was pretty cool. We had another associate named Miss. Deprankova. She was great too. Last I heard they had moved over to California." JJ smiled, before seeming to think for a moment.

"Do you think we should bring them back too?" They asked. Julio stared for a second, thinking.

"I don't know. It would be cool, but I'm not sure they would want to go back when they've finally settled down." JJ shrugged.

"Eh. It was just a thought." They said. Julio snorted.

"I can imagine they would be surprised though. Maybe you can call them at some point and give them a heart attack." JJ broke into a giggle fit and let a wide, mischievous grin go across their face.

"I might not be able to help myself." They said. Julio rolled his eyes.

"Of course you wouldn't." He answered. Reaching a hand over, he ruffled JJ's fluffy hair. JJ swatted at his hands and stuck a tounge out at him for that before crossing their arms on the table.

"So, enough bullshitery, down to the point of why I came over here in the first place. Its a weird, kinda crap question, but I wanted to ask it to everyone just in case. Do you really want to be here? I mean, its OK if you don't. You probably still have more important and less dangerous things to do there." Julio seemed to be surprised by the question. He thought for a moment, stumbling lightly over words.

"Well, I mean, thats kind of a hard question to answer. Being here is pretty much putting my life in danger, but I kinda quit my job in the heat of the moment when I came out with you guys. Its great to be here again, don't get me wrong, I get to eat as much candy as I want now at least, and seeing my friends is awesome. Its a hard feeling to explain." JJ looked at him for a little, sizing up his answer. They nodded, accepting it.

"Alright, thats fair. Thats all I really came for. Do you know where Heathcliff is?" They said. Julio shook his head.

"Nope. Haven't seen him. Sorry." JJ groaned before hopping up.

"Alrighty. That's a pain, but whatever I guess. I'll probably find him soon enough. Maybe he'll know where Noah is too. Been looking for him all day." They pivoted on their heel, turning to the door and waving as they left.


	24. Its not rocket science

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heathcliff has a few flashbacks

JJ ran back and forth between the multiple empty hallways, searching for Heathcliff. Sliding to a stop in one of them, they leaned their head back, groaning loudly. Leaning up against a wall, they massaged their temples.

"Alright JJ, if you we're Heathcliff where would you be?" They asked themselves quietly. Groaning, they paused. Suddenly, they got an idea. Rushing down the hallways, they quietly inched up to one of the doors. The room inside had become a sort of office slash mechanical room for building and fixing things. Peeking inside, sure enough, they saw the telltale bright orangish red hair that belonged to Heathcliff. Opening the door silently, they crept up behind him without a sound. They stood there a second, waiting. Then, with a loud yell of "Heath!" they lept up onto his back.

Heathcliff let out a loud shriek, stumbling forward a small bit at the sudden weight coming onto his back, catching himself on the table in front of him. Putting one hand over his heart and the other arm grabbing onto one of JJ's legs that had wrapped around his waist. Craning his head back to look at JJ, he gave them a slight glare.

"Holy crud JJ, what was that for?" JJ laughed, putting their head onto his shoulder to look him in the eyes.

"Because its fun and you were basically asking for it. I've been looking for you ya know." They said, grinning. Heathcliff cocked up a brow.

"Why were you looking for me?" JJ climbed further up Heathcliff's back, and with a small boost, sat atop his shoulders, putting their arms on his head.

"Its kinda a stupid question, and I've asked it to literally everyone but you." Heathcliff looked up at them curiously.

"Well let's hear it anyway." He said. JJ shrugged, nodding.

"Sooooo, um, is it alright for you to be here? You have an entire life to live ya know. You don't have to waste it on dangerous stuff like this. I mean, you could probably die doing this ya know, if anything from what I've heard from the news reports are true."

Heathcliff looked at them, slightly bewildered at the question. He paused for a moment to think.

"Well, I mean, yeah, but we did that back when we were spys anyway. Sure it's been years, but it would take a lot more to kill us than a normal person. Not to mention everyone has their upgrades now. I'm pretty sure the safety of the world outweighs any doubts that we would have. Plus, you guys probably need a medic on standby anyway." JJ looked down onto him from their perch.

"I mean, yeah, we probably will, but if you or anybody else has doubts about being here or anything, you should have the right to leave. You dont need to risk your life on something that might not even work." They stared at them for a second, before sighing and nodding.

"Alright. Its nice to know I have that choice, even if I don't plan on making good on it. You're very considerate." He said. JJ nodded, laughing a bit. Looking past Heathcliff's head down at the table in front of them, they saw what looked like a small gun in pieces on top of it. They rose a curious brow.

"So, what's that?" They asked, pointing down to it. Heathcliff looked to where they were pointing, and let a grin stretch across his face.

"Well that, my friend, is an energy blaster. Its much more efficient than a regular gun, and a good amount more painful too." JJ looked on curiously, reaching down to levitate it towards them. Heathcliff smacked their hand away with a disapproving look.

"Hey now, don't go using your upgrades willy nilly on this type of stuff. It might have a bad reaction, especially with what its made of and what parts go into it." JJ pouted, rolling their eyes.

"Well, what does it even do anyway?" They asked.

"Well, basically what it does is convert solar energy into highly concentrated blasts that could more or less burn you a good bit." Heathcliff answered. JJ made an o with their mouth and cringed a bit.

"Yeowch. Sounds painful." Heathcliff nodded. Cringing as well.

"They are. My cohorts goons had bigger more dangerous versions of these things back when I was still a bad guy. Those things could cook you better than a hot pocket." He said. Stopping, he coughed awkwardly. JJ frowned, staring at him. He seemed to have been drawn back into the memories. He was jerked from his reminiscing as JJ jumped off his shoulders, coming to stand beside him.

"What was up with that anyway? Like, yeah, I know that you were bad for a while, but I mean, why did you feel like that was a good idea? If thats even an ok question to ask. You don't need to answer if you don't want to." They said. Heathcliff looked at them, thinking for a moment. Sighing, he nodded.

"I guess it was just a lot of anger. Its no secret that all of the NERDS got bullied pretty severely when we were in school. I was just really angry, and when I saw an opportunity to change how the world worked in relation to that, I took it. No matter how many people I knew it would hurt. In the end I kinda just figured out that I didn't have anyone to blame but myself for those decisions. Funny thing is, the one who made me figure it out was me. A different version of me, but me nonetheless. Thats probably a story for another time though. After that, I recruited pretty much the entire school and led them into battle against four superpowered giants, which, again, is a story for another time." He explained. JJ looked up at him, interested.

"How did that work out? All the new recruits suddenly being added I mean." they asked. Heathcliff laughed.

"Better than would be expected. Luckily we have two very good organisers on our team. Aka Ruby and I. We actually needed to separate all the teams into different bases to make up for all the extra. It was very efficient if I do say so myself." JJ nodded, accepting the answer and letting a small snort come out their nose.

"That makes sense. Sounds fun." They said. Heathcliff laughed aloud. JJ shook their head, patting his back.

"Well, its been good talking, but I'm done asking all of you this question, and I'm gonna go do my own thing now. Any idea where Noah is?" They said. Heathcliff thought for a moment before nodding.

"I think I saw him outside in the back field." He said. JJ grinned, clapping the or hands once.

"Awesome. Thanks!" They said, hopping over to the door and sprinting out back down the hall.


	25. Calming clouds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes words are not needed

The dry grass crunched slightly beneath JJ's shoe as they walked outside towards the back field. The field was meant for things like playing soccer and the such, so it had two goals on the sides of it. A couple flowers dotted the unkemp field. Mostly dandelions though. Looking out across it, JJ was able to spot Noah quite quickly. He was laying down on his back staring into the sky with his hands crossed on his chest and a small jacket balled up to pillow his head. JJ walked over quietly, coming to stand beside him. The two acknowledged eachother with a small nod, wordlessly. JJ sat down beside him, letting themselves fall back onto their back, looking into the sky as well. It was beginning to become night, and a soft pink and orange gradient graced the sky, dotted by fluffy white clouds.

Neither of the children spoke for a good while. They didn't need to. Wind softly breezed by, ruffling their hair slightly. JJ threaded the grass between their fingers before pulling some up and starting to tie it into knots. The light of the sky slowly began to become quickly darker and darker, the purple and black beginning to push away the remaining light on the horizon as stars began to shine through the sky. JJ turned their head slightly over to Noah, who was still watching the clouds roll leisurely across the sky.

"So, have you been able to get in touch with your mom and dad yet?" They asked softly. Noah nodded.

"Yeah. I called them a couple minutes ago and talked to them for a while. They were able to escape the state and stay with some family for the time being, until we can get this bad guy out of there." A small smile went across JJ's face, reaching over and patting his shoulder.

"That's good. Have you told them everything that's been happening?" They asked.

"I told them a kinda watered down version of it. I was able to keep the stuff about being secret agents with superpowers and whatnot out of it." He replied. JJ nodded, looking back up to the sky and sighing. Sitting back up, they reached into their pocket, pulling out their scrap metal and rubbing their thumb over it. Dropping their gaze from the sky, they looked around them at the tall walls surrounding the area. They were lucky that the only areas goons really patrolled was around the outskirts of the town. If they came in any closer, no doubt that their cover would be lost. It was good however that Noah's parents were safe, unlike how JJ was quite sure theirs were.

They prayed to every god that there might be that their parents were safe. They didn't know what they would do if they lost them. Letting these thoughts overtake their mind, JJ didn't realize that small tears were beginning to roll down their cheeks until Noah made it known.

"Oh gosh, JJ, are you OK? You're crying!" He said worriedly, sitting up and shifting closer to them and putting a hand on their shoulder. JJ jerked, reaching up their hand to feel the warm tears making tracks down their face. They wiped them off with the back of their arm and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just let myself get caught up in the what ifs I guess." They said with a frown. Noah seemed to hesitate for a few moments, before tentatively leaning forward and wrapping his arms around JJ's smaller frame, patting their back.

JJ seemed to freeze for a second, before relaxing and returning the hug. Both released the hug after a minute. Pulling away from him, JJ grinned.

"Thanks dude." Noah laughed, embarrassed.

"Haha. No problem." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. JJ smacked his back, causing the boy to tumble forward slightly. They snorted as Noah looked back at them indignantly. He turned, before launching himself forward onto JJ. The two tussled playfully, rolling across the grass. As the sky finally began to go into its final stages of its darkness, the two sat laughing on the ground. Noah looked up into the sky.

"Its getting pretty late. The guys are probably almost done with dinner by now. We should go inside." He said. JJ looked up with him before nodding.

"Yeah, probably. Wanna get inside before your sister starts nagging us ey?" JJ said with a snort. Noah giggled lightly, standing up. After hefting JJ up, the two made their way back to the school.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" JJ yelled suddenly before sprinting ahead. "Hey! That's cheating and you know it!" Noah cried, racing after them.


	26. Home again home again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As it turns out, JJ has a pet actually

JJ shifted in their bean bag-like bed, gripping their blankets with a white knuckled grip. Someone walked up to them. The figure reached out, placing a hand on JJ's shoulder. This was a mistake on their part. Almost immediately, JJ's hand shot up, grabbing the person's wrist, pulling them down. Their other arm thrusted straight out, causing the person to stumble back, clutching their stomach. JJ had immediately jumped off the bed after, fluffy hair tangled from tossing and turning, pupils almost pinpricks. However, they immediately released their defensive stance once they realized who had woken them. Standing there clutching his stomach with a bewildered look on his face, was nonother than Jackson Jones.

"Oh fuck! Dude, I'm so sorry." JJ said. They spluttered out a couple more incomprehensible words, supposedly more apologies.

Jackson stood back up, rubbing the last bits of pain off of his stomach, shaking his head.

"Its fine. I'm good. Are you OK? You looked kinda distressed." JJ nodded, shaking off whatever fear had suddenly decided to take ahold of them for whatever reason.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a bit of a nightmare. Got a bit riled up there." They said, rubbing the back of their neck guiltily. Jackson shrugged.

"Again, its fine. You have one heck of a hard hit kiddo!" He said, reaching over and ruffling their already very messy hair. Swatting his hands away and laughing, JJ gestured over to the playgrounds exit.

"I'm gonna go do my stuff before I come join you guys. You know." Jackson nodded, and JJ made their way upstairs into the shower areas. After showering, they brushed their teeth in one of the bathrooms, as well as detangled their hair, getting it back to the usual soft fluffy state.

After that, they quickly jogged down to the cafeteria and slid into the open door. Waving to the others, they found Noah and slid into the seat right next to him.

"Hey Noah! Mornin." They greeted.

"Morning." Noah greeted back. The two talked for a bit before finishing breakfast. After that, the two decided to go back down to the playground to do more reaserch on their adversary. Dropping down onto the soft pile of things that had still not been removed, the two made their way to the front of the room where the main computer sat.

"Hello children, how are you?" A sudden voice asked. The two jerked slightly in surprise, turning to the voice. Floating just behind them was Benjamin.

"Jesus Ben! You scared the living crap out of us! Little warning next time?" JJ said, hand over their heart.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." He said apologetically. JJ shook their head.

"Yeah yeah, its fine. We need some scans on the situation with The Judge. I'm guessing he's taken over Virginia in its entirety by now from how fast he's been going." JJ said. Benjamin beeped a few times, flashing a blue light.

"Yes, you would, unfortunately, be correct. He has begun to move downwards into north Carolina as well. Two towns are already under his control." He said. JJ and Noah cringed.

"Well, that's no good. We really need to start kicking into high gear if we're gonna beat this guy." Noah said nervously. JJ nodded in agreement.

"We're gonna need to figure out where their headquarters are first of all. I'm not exactly sure how we'll do that, but I'm sure we can do it if we put our minds to it." JJ said confidently. They ran over to one of the tables, grabbing a stack of blank office papers before dropping them onto the table in front of the them all. The three worked together, writing down ideas and possible outcomes of different scenarios. Occasionally one of the NERDS would drop into the playground either to get something or just to say hi, and would put in their own personal ideas. Some ideas were deemed bad, and were crumpled up and thrown into the trash bin, and some were deemed possible, and were put to the side for later use.

The two worked well into the night, but were eventually forced to go to bed by Benjamin. That morning JJ jogged into breakfast holding a large backpack, as well as the metal slab they would often ride around on.

"Hey! Hey guys! I need to go out and get some stuff from my house. Anyone willing to come? Or am I gonna be doing this one solo?" They said. Ruby shook her head with a disapproving look.

"Absolutely not. If you're going out, you're taking someone with you." She said. Duncan shrugged, getting up.

"I'll come with you if you want." He said. JJ gave him a thumbs up. After rushing around to grab a couple of things they needed for the trip, the two trodded outside. JJ pushed the door to the base down using their upgrades, flinching a bit at the loud crash and the dirt flying up. Duncan patted their back.

"You're getting the hang of it." He said. JJ grinned, nodding.

The two jogged down the roads, eventually JJ led them to a dirt side road, leading down into a forested area. Duncan looked around at the trees that covered the sides of the road, creating a sort of canopy above them, while JJ continued looking forward.

"Hey, we're here!" JJ suddenly called. Looking ahead showed a slightly small house. It had two story's, and was painted white with dark blue trimmings. There was another, smaller workshop-like house to the side of the main house. It had a large backyard, and there was a small, round pond near the backside of it, as well as a gazebo in the middle. The wood was a very pretty cherry oak, with a black roof and accents. To the side, he saw a medium sized hut, obviously for some kind of chickens. JJ grinned, sprinting towards the backyard at a breakneck pace. Duncan jogged to catch up, finding them in the backyard on one knee, looking around and patting their legs loudly while clicking their tounge.

Duncan watched them do this for a minute, confused. As seconds ticked by, JJ seemed to be getting more and more downtrodden. Finally stopping the patting and clicking, they sighed. Duncan went to their side, looking confusedly down onto them.

"JJ, wha-" However, Duncan was not allowed to finish his words, as suddenly JJ let out a loud happy sqeal and reached their arms out, similar to how someone would reach their arms out for a hug. Duncan looked up, and looked on in absolute bewilderment as a very large chicken ran out from the side of the house. The chicken was mostly white, with a black tail and markings on its neck and a red face. It ran over into JJ's arms, clucking loudly all the while. JJ wrapped their arms around the large animal, laughing.

"Holy fucking crap! I thought that you had ran off for a second there Dandy!" They said. Duncan stared on in a mixture of surprise, bewilderment, confusion, and a multitude of other unidentifiable emotions as JJ happily played with the large chicken.

"Uhhhhh, JJ, can you explain please?" He said. JJ turned to him with a smile.

"Oh, yeah! I haven't told any of you I have a pet chicken did I? Well, this is Dandy. She's a Brahma chicken, that's why she's so big. We've had her for a couple years now. That's the main reason I wanted to come over here actually. I was really worried that she was dead or had run away or something. I'm really glad she didn't though!" They replied, patting Dandy on the head. They gestured back over to the house.

"Come on, we need to get her stuff. Also have a couple other things that would be good to get." They said. Duncan nodded, and the two jogged to the front door, which was unsurprisingly open, and walked in. Looking around, the house looked fairly untouched, other than a couple things having been knocked down. The two jogged down the hall, where a large closet was. Opening it, they saw that inside were multiple large bags of chicken feed, animal care tools, and the like. Taking the metal slab off their back, JJ started loading on the things. Duncan helped them load them on before being directed to find some rope that was kept in the living room to tie everything into place with.

After that, JJ ran upstairs into their room and began stuffing the backpack full of clothes that were previously stored in the dresser to the side of the room. Jumping into their bed, they reached up to a shelf above it that was on the wall, and took a few photos that sat there. Double checking the room, they walked over to a desk that was against the wall, taking the green desktop that sat there, as well as a locket that sat beside it, and stuffed both into the backpack as well. Dropping to their knees, they reached below their bed and pulled out a drawer. Shuffling around its contents for a second, they pulled out a small circular box with a spherical cover. It had golden trimming and legs, and was covered in intricate swirls and patterns of different colors all over. On the side was a small keyhole. Looking at it for a second, JJ put it in the pack, as well as a small gold key with a butterfly end.

Hopping back down the stairs two at a time, they jumped onto the landing, finding Duncan and Dandy near the door.

"Got everything we need?" Duncan asked. JJ thought for a moment, double checking their mental checklist, before nodding.

"Yeah, that should be it. Let's go. Can't wait to show Dandy to everyone." They said. Duncan snorted. Leaning down, JJ picked up the large chicken with one of their arms, using the other to levitate the metal with all the supplies on it, and exited the home. The two jogged down the empty roads, with no intervention luckily. JJ placed the supplies down on the ground in favor of talking put their phone to check the time.

"It should be around lunch time now. Perfect timing." They said. Duncan nodded, letting out a small laugh. Dandy clucked a couple times. JJ dropped the gate, and the two entered.


	27. Ringing melody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a split between the people who like JJ's pet, and the one person who happens to be allergic to it. As well as everything else

After they closed the gate, Duncan and JJ trodded into the school, immediately jogging over to the cafeteria, where they predicted the others would be waiting. Fortunately, they were right. Peeking into the room showed the group talking and eating together. JJ waved jubilantly.

"Hey guys! Guess what we got?" They cried. The others turned to them, about to greet the two, but immediately stopped when they all saw the giant chicken clutched firmly under JJ's arm.

"Uhhhhhh, JJ, might I ask exactly WHY you have brought a chicken here?" Heathcliff said. JJ dropped the supplies behind them, grabbing Dandy with both hands and presenting her proudly to the others.

"This is Dandy! She's my pet chicken!" JJ said. Matilda immediately jogged up, taking a close look at it.

"Oooohhhh! I thought I saw a chicken in a couple of those pictures you showed me. She's a big girl isn't she?" She said. The chicken clucked loudly, and she snorted.

JJ placed the chicken gently on the ground, letting it wander. Ruby immediately cringed away when it came close, scratching at her sides.

"I'm allergic to chickens. And feathers. Please keep that thing away from me." She said. JJ stared for a second.

"Oh. Well lucky for you we always keep Dandy outside. It's not good to keep them inside. And you're allergic to everything, so I guessed that." They said. Benjamin suddenly flew overhead, hovering over Dandy.

"According to my scans, Dandy is a Brahma chicken. This particular species of chicken come to be quite large in size, although this one in particular seems bigger than average, even for its species." He said. Dandy pecked at the floating ball curiously, however Benjamin floated out of reach of her beak.

Jackson and Julio walked up to the chicken. Julio reached out a hand, and laughed when it bumped its head into his hand, clucking contentedly.

"She's very nice!" He said. Reaching his own hand out, Jackson ran it along Dandys feathers. Dandy flapped her wings very slightly at the touch.

"Oh, OK, wow. I didn't know you had a pet. Cool." He said. JJ nodded, patting their legs again. The others watched, surprised, as the chicken immediately came running back over to them. Noah walked over nervously, still slightly backed away from it.

"Umm, is it OK if I pet her? Or will she freak out?" He said. JJ raised a brow at him.

"Well, no, she's really nice, and good with people. You saw Julio and Jackson with her right?" They said. Noah blushed, embarrassed.

"Well, I mean, yeah, but I just wanted to make sure." Noah knelt down onto one knee, holding a hand out tentatively.

Dandy walked forward, instead of going to his hand, instead pressed up against his chest, clucking affectionately. Noah gaped for a second before wrapping his arms around her, eyes sparkling.

"I...I love her so much." He said. JJ laughed loudly. Heathcliff came up beside the three, crouching down to their level.

"She seems very well trained!" He said with a slightly impressed tone. JJ nodded.

"We've been training her since she was just a chick!" They said proudly. Heathcliff gave the chicken a small pat on the head. JJ stood back up, stretching for a second.

"Well, I need to go set everything up for her. You know, hen house and bedding and food and whatnot." The others nodded, and JJ called Dandy rushing back out, levitating the supplies behind them and Dandy running after them.

For a couple hours, you could hear loud clanking and other sounds. The others occasionally came by to watch or offer their help, exept for Ruby, who still opted to stay a safe distance from the large chicken that stayed close to JJ while they worked. Finally, as it was getting close to dinner, they finished their work. What they had created was a large coop surrounded by a chain link fence with an opening at the front. It had crude patterns etched into it and had been painted a generic white and red. JJ stood proudly before their creation proudly, grinning. They wasted no time telling the others about their creation at dinner, which they gained a good amount of praise for. After dinner they went back to their bean bed as they called it and slumped down into it, placing the backpack they had brought into their lap.

Taking out their clothes first and placing them to the side, they reached in, and took out the locket. A close look at it, revealed it to be two silver wings put together to form a heart. Popping it open, there were two pictures set into the sides. One side held a picture of JJ's parents, and the other held a picture of a younger JJ. Sighing, they placed it gently down next to the bed. Next, they pulled out the computer and set it down onto the pile of clothes. Finally, they took out the circular box and butterfly key. They ran their fingers across it gently, before putting in the key and turning it a couple times. When they finished turning, the lid of the box popped open, revealing a small golden flower with different gems littered across its petals. As the box opened, the flower began to spin, and soft music began to echo through the room. JJ gripped the box slightly harder as the beautiful melody played, a flood of memories coming with it.

"Heh. Mutter always said that this used to calm her down when she was a kid. I can't say I blame her." They said song eventually ended, and JJ closed the box, pulling out the key and placing both to the side carefully. Calmed, they layed down into bed, and let sleep overcome them.


	28. Blood is thicker than water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ is having problems. Ruby does her best to help  
> {Warning for period talk}

Ruby knew it was strange. JJ was usually there at breakfast. It looked like the others knew something was up too, mostly Noah, who was looking at the door with a half worried, half confused look on his face. However, it was EXTREMELY strange when they didn't even arrive afterwards to bother her or the others. It was worrying almost. She sighed, getting up from her seat in the library where she usually stayed, and walked out, towards the lockers that led to the playground. In a minute she was in the playground. Jogging over to the corner that held JJ's bean bed, as they liked to call it, she immediately saw that there was a significant lack of the child. She looked around, slightly confused, before deciding they must be either in the shower, or the bathroom. She checked the shower. No JJ. She then checked a couple of the bathrooms. Still no JJ. It wasn't until she reached the last bathroom that she found anything.

"JJ? You there?" She called. She was about ready to give up and check somewhere else, but her patience was rewarded.

"Yeah?" A small voice said from one of the stalls.

"Oh, there you are. Where have you been?" She asked. It might not have been intentional, but slight worry seeped into her voice.

It was quiet for a moment, before JJ's voice came back through the door. Strangely, it was wavering slightly, and came out awkwardly. Very unlike them, the usually outspoken and confident kid she usually knew.

"Here." Came the small reply. JJ paused for a second, before continuing.

"I'm...bleeding. And in pain. Bleeding and in pain. And before ypu ask, no, it isn't the type of thing I could go and put a bandaid on." They said. As they did, it all suddenly clicked into place for Ruby. The slight, almost unnoticeable pitch change in their voice, the awkward, careful words, the fact that they locked themselves into this stall for almost the entire first part of the day. Ruby stood there for a second.

"Oh...I see. Hold on, I have some stuff that could help." She said. Jogging out of the room, she went immediately to her makeshift room to grab some of the things she would need.

Getting back to the bathroom, she tossed a couple boxes under the door to the stall.

"Alright, so have you has the talk yet?" She asked tentatively. JJ snorted. There was a slightly bitter tone to it.

"Yeah. I had the talk. I'm twelve. I just was really fuckin hoping it wouldn't come, or at least come a lot later. The fact that I no doubt, kinda have a chest and a puss, is dysphoria inducing enough. This is really shitty. I hate this so much." Their bitter voice came out as more of an angry growl than anything else. There were a couple noises of shuffling and tearing, but eventually, JJ trodded awkwardly out of the stall, metal flying through their fingers at a rapid pace. Ruby placed a tentatively comforting hand on their back, which didn't seem to help much.

"Alright. Come on. You probably haven't eaten yet, so let's do that first." She said. JJ nodded, following her silently. The two walked quietly down the hall back towards the cafeteria. Once they arrived JJ sat down wordlessly at one of the tables and Ruby went to make something quick. She came back with some tomato soup, a cup of tea, and a small bar of dark chocolate. She gave them to JJ, sitting down next to them.

"The tea and chocolate usually helps." She said. JJ looked at her, shrugging and nodding before starting to eat it. For a couple minutes they sat there, occasionally exchanging a couple words, until Ruby decided to ask the question on her mind.

"Is it alright to ask about the dysporia thing? Its alright if you don't want to talk about it, but I was just curious about it." She said. JJ paused, staring at her for a moment, before sighing.

"Yeah its fine. Go ahead." They answered. Ruby nodded.

"Well, I guess I just wanted to know what its like living with it? I've heard about it before, but I've never actually met a person who has it." She said. JJ made a slight groaning noise.

"Its not exactly fun. I was lucky to have it slightly lighter, and it only really kicks my ass on bad days, which, surprise surprise, today is one of. On better days I can take showers and stuff without freaking out, and sometimes even be able to kinda appreciate it, but on worse days, just looking down at or a accidentally touching my chest is enough to make me severely uncomfortable, almost to the point of panic. I did that sometimes too." They shook their head, tapping their spoon on the side of the bowl in front of them.

"I'm not old enough to get a mastectomy, and I don't bind or take testosterone or anything, so when people see me, they have a tendency to assume I'm a girl. It's an ass, but sometimes even when I do get around to telling them that, no, I am in fact not a girl, I'm nonbianry, they STILL don't gender me right. Sometimes they even decide to be assholes about it and start talking shit that I'm not gonna get into right now." They said, almost growling.

Ruby nodded, beginning to understand.

"That's... not good. How long have you known you were nonbianary?" She asked curiously. JJ stopped, thinking.

"Well, I guess I've kinda always known? I just didn't find out there was a word for it until later years. It was weird, not knowing why people calling me she or he felt absolutely wrong, but I went with it. When I figured out calling myself they felt a lot better, I stuck with that. And oh boy, when I figured out that, 'hey! there's a word for that!' I was so fuckin excited and happy, I literally ran around screaming for a good hour. Scared a couple birds too." JJ laughed at the last thought. Ruby smiled slightly. For a little while, the two continued to talk for a while until JJ finished, at which point they had the panicked revelation that they hadn't even said hello to Noah, and ran off after saying goodbye.


	29. A reckless mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which JJ makes a very, very, very bad decision

Noah was awoken by a hard shaking. He yawned groggily, turning to the person shaking him. As his bleary eyes adjusted to the dark room, the first thing he noticed was the signature piercing green eyes that belonged to JJ. Blinking, he looked over at the clock that was beside his bed.

"JJ. What are you doing up? And why did you wake me up at 3:56 in the morning?" He asked confusedly. A wide grin went across JJ's face.

"I really wanted to go out and test how far I can push my upgrades. The others told me I shouldn't push them to their maximum limit, buuuuutttt, I'm curious. Wanna come with me?" They said. Noah stared at them, slightly bewildered.

"That doesn't sound lie a good idea JJ. You could get in trouble, or hurt!" He said worriedly. JJ shrugged.

"Pshhhh. I've gotten hurt before. It can't be THAT bad." They said, waving him off.

Noah sighed, shaking his head, before hopping off his bed.

"Alright. I'll go with you, if only to keep you from hurting yourself. Wait a second." He said. Twenty minutes later the two children were creeping out of the base. JJ struggled to put the door down softly, but was able to manage it. Together, the two flew toward a reclusive part of town on the metal piece that JJ had. What JJ had led them to was a large scrap yard. JJ clapped their hands excitedly.

"Okay, okay, okay. This is exciting." They said. Noah looked around nervously at the surrounding area. The place was covered in bits and pieces of forgotten car parts, large pieces of scrap metal, and things of the sort. There were even a couple full cars, albiet broken down and rusty ones.

"JJ, I still think this is a bad idea." He said. JJ made a small dismissive noise, again waving him off.

"Don't worry Noah! It'll be fine. If something goes wrong you can always call the others with my phone. One of them is bound to pick up. You can leave if you feel unsafe too. I'll only take a couple minutes at most" They answered back, giving him a small encouraging pat on the back. Noah nodded.

"Yeah. I know. Just promise you'll stop if you don't feel good." He said. JJ gave Noah a big toothy grin and a thumbs up. They trodded over to the middle of the scrap yard and sat down, crossing their legs. They took a deep breath in and let it out, closing their eyes. They let the world around them drain away until there was nothing there other then them. After that, they began to focus.

They felt the nanobytes swirling through their body. They felt their power. After that, they reached out their senses. They felt the metal in their pocket, as well as around them. Almost as if they could give off tangible energys. Focusing in on the nanobytes, they felt as they began to burn and fill their body with energy. They kept doing this, bringing the power up as much as they could. It was beginning to almost become painful in truth, but they weren't stopping there. When they were sure they were almost at max power, they opened their eyes, standing up and reaching their hands outwards.

When they did this, the effect was immediate. Any metal that was stored in that area began to rise shakily into the air. JJ's began to sweat from the exertion. They felt their body begin to get hotter, almost burning. The things around them started to shift and bend, coming together and melding together seamlessly. From the side of the scrap yard, Noah watched this happen with wide eyes, however he turned his attention from the thing coming together in the air, and down to his friend. JJ was visibly shaking now, breathing hard and fast. Noah frowned, about to go forward, before a sudden loud buzzing voice came out of nowhere.

"Children! What are you doing?!" It said.

Noah whirled around on his heel to the voice gaping when he saw the small, blue, beeping and flashing orb that was Benjamin.

"Benjamin! What are you doing here?" Noah asked surprisedly.

"I saw you leave through the security cameras, and followed you. However I was unable to fly as fast as JJ was able to fly. But that is neither here nor there. Answer my question!" Benjamin buzzed back. Noah looked on nervously.

"JJ wanted to test how far their powers could go! I just came along because they said I could if I wanted to." He answered. Benjamin made a couple loud beeping noises.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" He cried. Noah flinched away slightly.

"A persons upgrades should never be pushed to their limit! It could kill you!" Benjamin continued. Noah's eyes went wide. Immediately, he turned around, sprinting toward JJ.

"JJ! Stop!" He yelled.

JJ turned their head slightly towards him with a confused and extremely tired look on their face. They looked about ready to collapse. The swirling metal parts around them began crashing to the around around the three. JJ put their hands down after letting everything down, almost having let a good couple pieces fall on them. Noah darted around the now grounded scraps and bolts, sliding to a stop beside JJ, just in time to see them wobble back and forth slightly, before collapsing. Noah was just barely able to catch JJ under their arms and place them lightly onto the ground.

"Oh no, JJ, are you ok? JJ?" He said frantically, patting their cheeks a few times. Benjamin flitted over his shoulder.

"Kid? Hey, try to stay awake. Noah, how long have they kept that charge up?" He said.

"Uh, a little bit less than half an hour maybe?" Noah answered. Benjamin made a strange, electronic noise of distress at that.

"Ohh no. That's not good. I'm calling the others over the intercom system in the school. Hopefully they can get here soon." He said. Noah nodded, turning back to JJ.

Unfortunately by this point, their eyes had already closed, and were unresponsive to anything that was happening. Noah shook them by the shoulders a few times. Nothing. He tried giving them a few slaps. Again, nothing. No matter what he did, JJ didn't seem to respond. The only reassurance that he had that JJ was actually alive was the soft breaths coming out of them, as well as an extremely slow, but still there, heartbeat.

"Alright kid. The others are on their way. Julio should be here in a minute or two." Benjamin said. Noah nodded slightly, crossing his legs and placing JJ's head gently into his lap.

"Are they gonna be ok?" He asked softly. Benjamin whirred for a second before answering.

"I don't know." He chirped.


	30. Worry not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luckily JJ isnt dead. Everyone else nearly had a heart attack though

To say that it was a distressing morning for everyone would be an understatement. It hadn't even gotten light out yet, but they were all woken up by a loud static keening noise from the intercom. Once they had woken up, they were promptly informed that JJ had made the very stupid mistake of sneaking out to the scrap yard specifically to see how far their upgrades could be pushed. They all knew how well that could go. The group all met each other in the front hall.

"Fuck. This isn't good." Jackson promptly pointed out. The others quickly nodded.

"I can get over there fast and bring them back. You guys should try to meet me halfway. We don't know how bad it is, so we should try to be." Julio said.

"Hopefully its not that bad. I mean, I pushed mine to their limits twice, and I survived both times. Only passed out for a bit." Matilda pointed out. Heathcliff suddenly seemed to remember something suddenly.

"Julio, think you can jump over that wall? Matilda can carry you over if not." Julio shook his head, waving him off.

"I should be able to. I've jumped higher than that a couple times before." He replied. They nodded, and Julio turned the dial on his harness before sprinting out of the building. Luckily, he was right about being able to jump the wall.

Shooting down the streets, he was able to slide into the scrap yard within two minutes tops. Looking around, he could see it was an absolute mess. Piles of metal had been thrown everywhere, cars were upturned, and he wasn't able to see where the kids were located.

"Benjamin? Noah? JJ? Where are you? I can't see where you are!" He called out. There was a buzzing noise, and Benjamin flew out from behind one of the piles of scrap.

"Oh, Julio, you're here. Finally. Better get over here quickly." He said. Julio nodded, and Benjamin led him around a few piles, eventually settling on one of the ones that was more in the middle of the yard. Sitting there, was Noah and JJ. Noah looked about ready to have a breakdown, tears forming at the edges of his eyes.

"Noah! JJ! Are you two OK?" Julio called. Noah's eyes shot up to him, placing JJ's head gently onto the ground before running over to him and giving him a big hug.

"I'm fine. I don't know about JJ though. Their heart is really quiet." He said, sniffing slightly.

Julio cursed internally for a second, before jogging over to JJ, taking a knee, and pressing his thumb to their wrist, right on their pulse. Unfortunately Noah was right. Their heart was slow and definitely more quiet than it should be.

"Alright, its gonna be fine. Just stay calm. I'm gonna bring them back to base before coming back for you, OK?" Julio said, gathering JJ into his arms lightly. Noah nodded, rubbing at his eyes.

"Yeah. That's fine." He said. Julio gave him a small, reassuring thumbs up, before turning and running back out of the scrap yard as quickly as he could. Within the next minute, he had come fairly close to the base. Seeing that his friends were jogging over, he slowed down, meeting them on the sidewalk.

"Doesn't look too good guys. JJ hasn't even twitched since I've seen them, and their pulse is way slower than its supposed to be." He informed them. Heathcliff walked over, picking up their hand and putting a finger on their pulse to confirm. He cringed.

"Yeah, OK, that is definitely slower than its supposed to. Let's get them into the nurses office so I can try to get a better look at the problem. There's probably not too much I can do." He said.

The others agreed, quickly getting back to base before Julio pointed out that he needed to go get Noah and Benjamin. He left to do so, and in a couple minutes, again found himself in the scrapyard. Noah was there near the entrance laying on his stomach, drawing in the ground with his finger, Benjamin hovering beside him.

"Hey Noah, Benjamin. How are you holding up?" He asked. Noah, turned to him, jumping slightly.

"I'm fine. Is JJ gonna be OK? Did they wake up?" He asked quickly, standing up. Julio put his hands up in a placating manner.

"I'm sure their gonna be fine. Matilda pushed her limits twice, and she survived both times. I'm sure if she was OK after she did it, JJ will be too." He said.

"Yes, that would be true. She was only asleep for a while. I'm going to assume that JJ will be just fine after a bit of rest. Although I would have to say they're probably going to get one heck of a scolding." Benjamin chimed in. Julio nodded and Noah snorted slightly.

"They better. I TOLD them to stop if they started not feeling good. Not like that's much different than what they always did. JJ never listened to warnings in school. They always used to get in a lot of trouble because of that." Noah said, sighing.

Julio laughed a small bit, patting him on the back.

"Well I'm sure you can tell them off too once they wake up. But we have to be at the base to to that, so we should probably get going now." He said. Noah nodded, before coming up to him. Julio knelt down, allowing Noah to hop up onto his back.

"Better hold on tight." Julio said, before sprinting off. Noah screeched in terror a small bit as they took off. Within a few minutes they were finally at the base. Noah was glad to get off to say the least. The two immediately went over to the nurses office, which the rest of their group was waiting. Noah immediately went over to Heathcliff.

"Are they OK? Are they awake?" He said, almost stumbling over his words.

Heathcliff nodded, reaching over and ruffling his hair slightly.

"Yeah. JJ's fine. No they're not awake yet, but that's to be expected. They just need some time to recuperate." He replied.

"After that I would say we should all get some sleep. Its still extremely early." The others nodded, all dispersing to their separate rooms. Noah paused to stare at the door to the room that JJ was currently in, before leaving to his room. He dropped down into his bed, not bothering to change back out of the clothes he had put on for the little escapade. He was more than a little angry, both at JJ and himself. JJ for doing such reckless thing in the first place, and not listening to the others, as well as his, warnings, as well as being too stubborn to stop once they started feeling unwell. And at himself for not stopping them before this whole debacle happened.

"JJ you're gonna kill yourself one of these days." He sighed.


	31. Admitting the wrongs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ admits they fucked up and tries to make up for it

...Fuck. It was too bright. Waaaayyyy too fucking bright. JJ groaned, pulling one arm over their eyes. The light was absolutely not helping the pounding headache they had, as well as the aching all over their body. With their eyes still covered, they felt around where they were laying, because it was obviously not their bed. The last memories they had were all fuzzy. They remembered waking up Noah and getting him to come with them to the scrap yard. They remembered activating their upgrades and pushing them as far as they could. They remember not stopping, even when pain started to build up in their body. They remembered the faint, static voice of Noah as they let everything start to crash down around them as the world turned dark. They remembered far away voices that they tried to reply to, but everything felt numb and staticy.

JJ did a few mental checks, as well as physical. Other than a few aches and pains as well as a small migraine, everything seemed to be in order. Reluctantly, they let their eyes peek out from under their arm, scanning the room. The room was obviously the nurses office. They had gone to the nurses office in their school a fair amount. It was a bland, sterile, white color, and they were laying on one of the four beds in the room. It was also fairly small. They looked up, seeing that the room was lit by a few overhead lights put into the ceiling. They would have gotten up just to turn them off and continue sleeping, but they knew better. JJ took their time to adjust to the light and sit up, ignoring their body's protesting. They also made a slight hissing noise when their bare feet hit the cold tile of the ground.

They found their shoes and socks right next to the bed, and proceeded to quickly put them on before checking the time.

"Oh. OK. Wow. I was out for a good while wasn't I?" They whispered to themselves quietly. It was a little while past lunchtime, so that would explain why they were parched and hungry as all hell. They quickly jogged out of the room, resolving to go to the cafeteria and see what food they had. And some juice or water or something. They jogged around the corner, and were about halfway down the other hallway before they heard footsteps from the hall they just came from. They stopped as there was a small creaking of a door, more footsteps, and a pause. Then, a extremely loud, high pitched, and strangled noise of distress echoed throughout the hallways.

It was enough to send JJ into a fit of gut busting laughter, nearly falling over in the process. This caused another pause before rapid footsteps slid around the corner. Standing there with a look of distress and bewilderment, was Heathcliff.

"JJ! You scared the living daylights out of me!" He cried, approaching them. JJ stood up from their laughter, wiping away the tears that has come to their eyes.

"Holy shit. You sound like a fucking school girl on helium when you scream." They said. Heathcliff blushed in embarrassment, and spluttered indignantly for a second.

"Thats not what we should be talking about JJ. We need to talk about the fact that you snuck out and nearly killed yourself by doing something that I KNOW for a fact that everyone here has specifically told you NOT to do under ANY circumstances! We are all very disappointed." He scolded. JJ frowned, looking down at their feet slightly.

"I mean, you guys didn't specify what would happen if I did it. I was just curious." They said quietly. They knew they probably worried everyone a great deal, and they should probably be guilty about it.

Heathcliff sighed, shaking his head.

"And that would be our fault. We just didn't want to scare you with the possible repercussions that pushing your upgrades that far would be. However, you should have listened to us. We tell you not to do things when said things could possibly cause harm to you or others." He said, crossing his arms and frowning at the small child in front of him.

"Yeah I know. I just-" JJ stopped for a second, taking a deep breath. Their hand was visibly twitching towards their pocket out of reflex.

"I just wanted to-" Again, they stopped, fists clenching. They shook their head, turning away from Heathcliff.

"Nevermind. I'm just gonna go get something to eat 'n shit." They finally finished. As soon as they said that, they ran towards the cafeteria.

They arrived without running into anyone again, and luckily there was nobody in there when they arrived. They quickly got some apple juice, trail mix, and leftover spaghetti from last night. Hopping up after finishing, they turned out of the room, only to bump into someone, stumbling backwards slightly.

"JJ! Oh! Sorry, didn't see you there. Are you OK? How are you feeling?" said Duncan, who was the one they had bumped into. Next to him was Julio.

"Hey JJ!" He said, waving. JJ nodded back at them.

"Oh, hey guys. I'm fine. Just had a bit of a headache and my body hurt when I woke up. Their mostly gone now though." They replied. Julio bent down slightly to hug the child.

"Well that's good. We were really worried you know!" He said. Duncan nodded.

"Yeah. You weren't even responding even a little bit." He frowned. JJ shrugged guiltily.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I guess I was just curious." They said. Both the older men nodded.

"That's all well and good, curiosity is the driving force of discovery after all, but you have to be more careful. You could have gotten seriously hurt!" Duncan said, patting their shoulder.

JJ nodded. The three exchanged a few more words before JJ left, continuing down the hall. They hoped to find Noah in particular, for having him have to bear witnesses to what happened, as well as possibly being scolded for their actions. They passed by the library, which showed to have both Ruby and Jackson in it, talking about something or other. JJ knew they would definitely be scolded if Ruby in particular saw them, so they tried to creep past without being noticed. This, however, did not work.

"JJ. I know you're there. I'm allergic to people trying to sneak away from in here." Ruby said without even turning her head to them. Jackson seemed slightly surprised, turning to face them.

"Oh! Hey JJ! Back from the grave?" He said with a laughing tone. JJ groaned, entering the room and coming to stand in front of Ruby. The two stared at eachother, JJ with a resigned look, and Ruby with an arguably not happy one. The tension got slightly thicker. Jackson, for once, seemed to sense the mood, and decided to leave before he got too involved.

It took almost a half hour for Ruby to finish her tangent. A couple of people had passed by, giving JJ sympathetic looks when they heard Ruby's raised voice. Unfortunately, no matter how much JJ silently begged them to remove them from the situation, they didn't come save them. The others knew better than to mess with Ruby when she was mad.

"And again, that was very dangerous and you should NOT do it again. Do you understand me?" Ruby finished. JJ groaned, rolling their eyes.

"Yeah. I know it was dangerous. You said that, like, a million times. You didn't need to say it again MOM." They hissed back with purpose. Ruby jolted a bit at that, and JJ seemed to start regretting those words. Before anything else could be said, they turned on their heel and sprinted out of the room, ignoring Ruby's call.

Running along the empty halls, they hopped to a stop in front of the gym. Walking into it, sure enough, there was Matilda, whaling on a punching bag. JJ was sure if she kept hitting it that hard, it might break. They waved to her once she noticed them.

"Hey kiddo! Nice to see ya back on your feet! Saw you with Ruby a while ago. How'd that go?" She said, stopping her onslaught on the poor punching bag and jogging over.

"Ugh. Don't remind me. Shes pretty long winded isn't she?" JJ answered with a sigh. Matilda let out a hearty snort, patting their back.

"She always has been. That's our team leader for ya. She's always been a stubborn worry wart. Doesn't like when things dont end up going according to plan." She said. JJ shrugged before nodding.

"I can see that." They said, looking back at the punching bag.

"Looks like you did a good number on that thing. You should teach me sometime. I only know things like kung fu, karate, and tai chi." They said. Matilda let a wide grin overtake her face.

"That, I can do. Don't even have anything to do, so yeah! I could teach ya a bit about wrestling." She replied. JJ's eyes sparkled for a second, before they frowned and shook their head.

"Sounds great. But I gotta find Noah right now. But we can do that later." They said. Matilda stared at them for a second before giving them a smug look.

"Ohhhhhh. I get it. Sure. You go get your boyfriend." She said teasingly, wiggling her eyebrows. JJ however, gave her a confused look.

"He's not my boyfriend. He's my friend. I could say the same for you and Duncan though. Don't think I don't see you two giving each other the lovey eyes." They retorted. Matilda's face immediately became a bright, firetruck red. She began stumbling for an answer, but JJ was already gone.

They almost gave up looking because of how long it was, but fortunately, they finally saw him turning the corner up ahead of them.

"Noah! Dude! Hey!" They cried. Noah turned around immediately.

"Now before you say anything" JJ said.

"I got a long talk from Ruby. I know I fucked up. I know I worried all of you, and I'm sorry. If I knew that would happen I probably wouldn't have done it. I'm still kinda in pain to be honest. Not a lot though. Look, you didn't deserve to have to be worried like that, and I promise I'm gonna try to make it up to you." They said, reaching up and giving his shoulder a pat. Noah squinted at them, looking for hints of a lie. He closed his eyes for a second, putting his head down and taking a breath. His hands gripped JJ's shoulders tighter for a second, before pulling them in and wrapping his arms around them. JJ paused, surprised at the move, but hugged back.

For a minute they stayed like that, before they pulled away.

"Alright. Wanna go get some gummy worms or something?" JJ asked. Noah nodded.

"Sure." He replied. The two jogged down the hall together towards the cafeteria.

"Oh, oh, oh, you wouldn't believe what Matilda said earlier." JJ said, chuckling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fanfic.net cut me the fuck off at the very end so i had to shorten it and I'm still salty as hell about it cause i wanted to add in the little fact that Noah is aroace.


	32. Cant stop wont stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ knows exactly what is going on, and are determined to play matchmaker

"Can you get off?"

"Nope."

"JJ, you've been on my back for the past hour."

"Yup. This ain't even close to how long I can stay on." Jackson sighed as JJ only gripped him tighter. Earlier in the day, JJ decided to test how long they could stay on someone's back and unfortunately for Jackson, he was the closest candidate. They said it was for "training" but Jackson knew they just wanted to try to annoy him. He was currently walking along the hall randomly. There wasn't much to do in the base, and truthfully, it was pretty boring most of the time. They should have gotten moving by now, but they still hadn't picked out a plan that would work.

"Why don't you go jump on someone else's back for a while?" Jackson asked, halting and craning his head around to try to get a view on the child.

"Cause that wouldn't break my record!" JJ chirped back. Jackson raised a brow.

"And what would your record be?" He asked.

"Four hours." Came the quick reply. Jackson stared for a second, bewildered.

"Who would even LET you stay on them for that long?" Jackson said. JJ snorted, not replying. Jackson could very well have knocked JJ off a good while ago, but he had decided to humor them since they seemed to be happy with it, and they definitely weren't all that heavy either. Jackson could no doubt carry them for a good long time, but he decided that he was going to get them off now so he could get things done. He went to the room that had more or less become a sort of living room for the base. JJ looked on curiously when he entered.

Going to the couch that was set on one side of the room, he turned his back to face it, before putting his arms straight out to the sides. JJ knew exactly what was coming. They made a loud squeal when Jackson allowed himself to topple backwards onto the couch, landing the both of them onto the plushy cushions. The two of them had a laugh, and JJ did let go of him. There was a small noise, and the two turned to the door.

"Well you two seem to be having fun." Ruby said, walking into the room. Jackson immediately jolted up off the couch.

"Oh! Hey Ruby. Didn't see you there." He said. Ruby approached the two cocking up an eyebrow.

"So whats on the activity agenda for today?" She asked. JJ grinned, sitting up and crossing their legs.

"I stayed on Jackson's back for an hour!"

"They did." The two answered.

Ruby let a small smirk tug at the edge of her lips, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head.

"Of course you did." She said. For a second, she looked to Jackson, who was staring at her. Their eyes locked for a few seconds. JJ looked between the two, face dropping into a smug and teasing look.

"So did you guys fuck yet?" They asked suddenly. The reaction on both Ruby's and Jackson's faces were absolutely priceless. JJ, however, didn't give them time to argue, as they jumped up, slamming their weight into Jackson, causing him to tumble forward into Ruby. JJ sprinted out of the room as embarrassed and rageful voices called after them. On their run, they happened to fly by Julio, who turned before running up to catch up with them easily.

"JJ? Why are you running so fast?" He asked confusedly.

JJ shook their head, continuing their rapid hallway sprint.

"Made Jackson and Ruby mad. They'll catch me if I don't hide." They said between breaths. They slid to a stop in the hallway with the lockers, quickly opening one of them.

"Uhhhh. JJ, that's not a playground entrance." He said. JJ nodded.

"I know. Now shoo. If they ask you if you saw me, say yes but don't specify where I went. Ruby is allergic to lying." They said before closing the door to the locker and going silent. Julio stared for a minute, before shrugging and leaving the hall. Julio did see Ruby and Jackson. Both of their faces were bright red and they didn't look too happy. He did what JJ said, but unfortunately they still found them. The next few hours consisted of JJ running and hiding in increasingly harder to find spots, being found, running away again. Jackson had attempted to catch them with his braces, if they could even be called that due to the fact that they were not actually braces, but was unfortunately combated by JJ's upgrades. They eventually all got tired and had to take. a break down in the playground where JJ had perched in the rafters, to continue teasing them.


	33. General direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ and Noah find some helpful info

Noah dropped into the playground, immediately looking around the area. JJ had run off on him, saying they needed to go research something when they were in the middle of a conversation. Seeing that JJ was in front of the main computer in the room, he jogged over. Looking up to see what exactly they were doing, he saw that they were going over multiple mission files, agent files, and news. Their eyebrows were furrowed, eyes flicking back and forth between the information splayed across the screen, obviously concentrating fairly hard.

"What are you looking for JJ?" Noah asked.

"Something on The Judge." JJ replied bluntly, not turning their attention away from the screen in front of them. "Well, what in particular? You looked like you had a sudden idea when you ran off." Noah said. JJ frowned, pinching the bridge of their nose and sighing.

"Yeah. I did. I still need help getting the info though. Can you go get Benjamin? He should be able to work quicker than I can." They said. Noah gave a slight confused and curious look at them, before nodding and running back over to the exit.

He jogged around the corridors, looking for Benjamin, who, if he remembered correctly, usually stayed around Duncan most if the time. It took a few minutes, but he did eventually find Benjamin. The two went back down to the playground where JJ was waiting.

"Hello JJ. I was informed that you needed my help?" Benjamin chirped. JJ nodded.

"Yeah. I was thinking for a little bit, and it hit me that it might be possible that this guy might have a criminal record. There was one undercover agent that was able to get lucky enough to actually see the boss guy, and took a picture. Its all over the news. He was killed shortly after though. Poor dude, rest in peace." They replied, a sympathetic tone coming in at the end. They clicked a page on the thing, and it brought up a news article. The cover was a photo of a man.

He was obviously older looking, maybe in his sixties. He had piercing green eyes and tanish skin, way too close to what JJ looked like for their liking. His ebony black hair was greying at the sides, and was slicked back neatly. He was wearing a black tuxedo and in truth looked very prim and proper. Not really like what most villains you would come across looked like.

"I was thinking we could get some type of scan on him, see if he has a past or not. Shouldn't be a problem with what tech you guys have at your disposal, should it?" JJ said to Benjamin.

"I should say not." He replied. For a minute he beeped and buzzed and flashed a few times, before eventually settling down.

"Well. I would definitely say he has a past. A past with the NERDS no less." He said. JJ and Noah looked at eachother with surprise.

"Wait, really? Can you bring up that mission log?" Noah asked. Within a second, a new file was opened on the computer, showing a page of information like the other mission files.

"This mission was a long one. Took a full week for everything to get done." Benjamin said. JJ nodded but didn't acknowledge him other than that. Reading over the log revealed that he had attempted to blow up a good few towns, and when the NERDS finally stopped him, he was somehow able to get away. There was a long search before they imprisoned him. A small news search

quickly showed that he had escaped prison about six years ago. JJ assumed the time out of jail immediately went into gathering his forces and things like that.

"Sheisse." JJ said quietly. Noah looked at them, confused. Benjamin beeped a few times.

"I didn't know you knew German JJ." He said. JJ seemingly snapped out of whatever concentration state they had put themselves in.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. A bit. One of my moms was German and she would talk in it a lot, so I kinda ended up picking up the general gist of the language. Enough to keep a conversation going if I wanted to." They explained.

Noah made a small impressed o with his mouth.

"Cool! Can you tell me a sentence?" He asked curiously. JJ's eyebrows furrowed, thinking for a second.

"Sicher könnte ich, aber es tut wirklich nichts, oder?" They asked.

"Sure I can, but that doesn't really do anything does it?" Benjamin translated. Noah clapped a bit, eyes sparkling.

"That's awesome." He said. JJ grinned and shrugged.

"Its nothing really." They said, waving him off. But their face soon turned serious.

"But in all seriousness, this isn't really good. If that guy is able to figure out that the NERDS are after him again, it could go downhill real fucking fast. I don't doubt that he remembers the people that captured him in the first place, and I'm guessing he's probably definitely put measures in place to keep that from happening again." They said, crossing their arms.

Noah nodded with a frown, before patting their back.

"I mean, yeah there's that, but you got us a lead JJ! That's pretty awesome! Now we kinda know what we're gonna be dealing with, right? We should go tell the others." He said. JJ nodded.

"Hey Benjamin, can you call the other guys to get in here over the intercom?" They asked.

"Of course." Benjamin chirped back. Immediately after, there was a loud crackling through the system.

"Hello everyone, I would like to inform you that JJ has found a lead on The Judge, and would like if you all got down here asap." Came Benjamin's voice through the intercom. JJ gave him a thumbs up.

"Thanks Benjamin." They said.

"Now let's see who gets down here first."


	34. Got a plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The NERDS gather to check their ideas

In the end, it was Julio who got there first. Much to be expected though. He dropped into the playground, waving to the children, as well as Benjamin.

"Hey JJ, Noah!" He greeted. The two waved at him. Next to arrive was Matilda, then Ruby, then Jackson, then Duncan and Heathcliff, who arrived at the same time. All of them gathered to the front of the room where JJ had plopped dramatically Into a rolling chair like some kind of James Bond movie villain. It was particular hilarious because they didn't even seem to have noticed the way they were sitting until Heathcliff pointed it out.

"JJ." He said, snorting slightly.

"Are you sitting like that on purpose?" He asked. JJ paused. looking down at their position, they scowled slightly.

"Fick dich" They replied, a small smirk working its way onto their face. The others stared at them, bewildered. Heathcliff squinted his eyes in suspicion.

"I'm not all that familiar with the language, but I'm fairly sure you just cursed me out in German and I don't particularly like that." He said. JJ laughed, and nudged Noah a bit, who also giggled slightly.

"Oh yeah. Forgot to tell you that I picked up on it from one of my moms." They said nonchalantly, shrugging.

"But that's not what we're here for. We found some leads on our guy." They continued, pointing back at the computer that was displaying the mission log, as well as the news report. There were a few confused mumbles as they read through the log, but slowly, all of them seemed to realize what JJ was getting at.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on. Are you telling us that guy broke out of jail end is trying to fuck over the world AGAIN?" Matilda exclaimed. JJ nodded.

"Oh yeaaaaaaahhh. That guy. I remember him. He shot me in the shoulder. I still have the scar." Duncan said, frowning.

"Damn." JJ said, frowning. The others nodded at that.

"That was a pretty long mission. Surprisingly hard too. We were all very, VERY happy when it was over." Ruby said. There were a few small chuckles from the group as they agreed.

"Anyway," JJ said.

"We know kinda what we're dealing with now. And I think I've thought up a pretty solid plan if I do say so myself. Honestly I'm not sure why I didn't think of it earlier though." The others nodded.

"Alright, well, hit us with it." Jackson invited. JJ clapped excitedly for a second before messing around with the computer for a second, bringing up some sort of power point like slideshow. It had slightly crude drawings and JJ's messy, but definitely not illegible, handwriting all over it.

"So, basically what I'm thinking, is we go out to the edges of the town where all the goon motherfuckers are, and we kidnap one of them. From there we can push the guy for information on the base of operations. So after that we can wipe his mind with some of that memory stuff that's supposed to be here and...uh...we can figure out what to do with the information once we get it? I didn't actually plan that far."They explained. Each point in the plan was showed on the slideshow by small stick figures and objects on the slides doing something or other. Noah giggled slightly.

" Nice drawings JJ." He teased. JJ stuck their tounge out at him. The others seemed to be thinking it over.

"That...actually isn't a bad idea. Good job!" Julio said.

"It could use fleshing out and the like, but its definitely possible. I'm not getting allergic reactions to it, so it isn't bad." Ruby said. Matilda wooped, throwing a fist in the air.

"Hell yeah! I haven't beaten up a thug since we got here! Its about time we started kicking bad guy butt again!" She said enthusiasticly. Everyone agreed.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get to work." Heathcliff said. And with that said, everyone gathered together and started working it out.

The group went back and forth between different formations, tactics, and plans. Matilda suggested they go in guns blazing, but that was quickly shot down. It would draw too much attention and would very likely end up badly if one of the witnesses was able to call in to the base. It had to be a quick, stealthy, in and out mission. They couldn't take more than a few hours, lest one of the thugs notice their cohort was nowhere in sight. Quite frankly, JJ and Noah had absolutely no idea what the group was talking about. They didn't have the years of spy experience that the others had. It was giving them both a headache.

"Hey Noah, wanna get out of here and get some tea or something?" JJ said, turning to him. He looked confusedly at them.

"You like tea?" He asked. JJ gave him a deadpan look.

"Yeah. I like tea. You coming or not?" They answered. Noah shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go." He said. The two quickly left. Nobody seemed to have noticed.


	35. Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ summons multiple demons into the physical realm with their "cooking." Noah bans them from the kitchen

JJ."

"Yes?"

"How."

"How what Noah?"

"How in all actual living christ did you light water on FIRE."

"I dunno."

"It is quite literally impossible to light literal tap water on fire."

"I mean...was supposed to be impossible. Its kinda happening right in front of us dude."

Went the back and forth between two children who were currently staring at a kettle that was completely untouched, save for the water inside of it. Said water had a flickering flame settled neatly across it by some ungodly force of nature. The two had been attempting to make some tea, but as soon as JJ had turned on the burner of the stove to start boiling the water, it immediately caught fire.

JJ and Noah continued to stare blankly at the flames lapping around the top of the kettle, but luckily not leaving that. Noah turned to JJ.

"We...should probably get that under control." He said.

"...Yeah. Let's do that. We'll figure out the physics later." They answered. With a flick of their finger, the kettle lifted off the stove. They went over to the sink, pouring more water into the kettle and dousing the flames, leaving the water black and swirling with specks of ash. They promptly poured it down the drain. Placing the kettle onto the sink for later investigation, both children stared at it for a while longer, pondering the situation.

"Let's...not do tea. We could just get some juice or something." Noah said. JJ nodded quickly in agreement. The two went over to the fridge for said juice. They opened the door, and JJ quickly grabbed any and all juice they saw, even a couple boxes in the back that were probably from when the school was still open, obviously expired. Noah stared in bewilderment at them.

"JJ. What are you doing." He asked. JJ seemed to space off for a second before shrugging.

"I wanna mix em all together." They said, dropping everything onto the counter and grabbing a bowl. Noah only watched as they mixed and matched different juices that were definitely NOT made to be mixed into one bowl. They also went back to the fridge a few times, grabbing some cherry cola and sprite, mixing a bit of those in too. When asked WHY they were mixing soda in too, they simply said "Because everything is better with soda." with an innocent look and left it at that. Halfway through they also decided they wanted to put salt, pepper, and pretty much any condiments they could find in as well as siracha. What they had in the end, was a pitch black mixture. A mixture that happened to also set fire a few seconds after they stood back to look at it.

"Oh." JJ said quietly. They leaned in and blew, which luckily seemed to blow it out. Immediately after that though, they both were extremely sure they started hearing screams of the damnmmed as two glowing eyes peered out of the bowl.

"Hey guys! What are you two doiiii-" Matildas voice slowed to a complete, horrified stop as she looked into the bowl, which had had three more sets of glowing eyes appear and had multiple far away tortured screams and whispers coming out of it. There was a long silence. The only sounds in the room were from the demon bowl.

"Know what? I'm just...gonna...leave you guys to whatever your doing." Matilda said, backing out of the room. Noah glared at JJ.

"I am telling literally everyone to never let you near the kitchen again." He said.

"Fair enough." JJ agreed. The two promptly looked up how to correctly close up holes into hell.


	36. Goofy gadgets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ gets the plan, as well as a few new gadgets from Heathcliff and Duncan

Almost immediately after closing what both children were very sure was absolutely a portal to hell, there was a loud woosh, and the two turned.

"Hey! Ruby wants us all in the playground now." Said Julio, who had just came up behind them. The kids nodded.

"Awesome! We got a plan?" JJ said. Julio nodded.

"Yup. We already have what we need to do since we were making it together, but Ruby still needs to tell you two what your jobs are." He replied. Noah and JJ grinned at eachother, before rushing off to the lockers. Julio had already shot past them when they got there. Within the next minute, both children had been safely deposited into the playground. Ruby was at the head of one of the tables with a few papers in her hand. She waved JJ and Noah over and they sat down.

"Alright, so, I'm going to give you the lowdown on what we're gonna be doing. Noah, you're staying here with Heathcliff first of all." She said. Noah frowned but accepted it. He didn't really want to get upgrades, so it made sense.

"Yeah...fine." He huffed slightly. JJ patted his shoulder.

"Maybe next time bud." They said with a laughing tone. Noah rolled his eyes at them. Ruby snapped at them, drawing their focus.

"Hey. Kids. Focus." She said with a dissaproving frown.

"JJ, you're coming with us, but you're staying back for if anything goes wrong. You're going to be staying on one of the buildings and keeping watch to make sure they don't come around and catch us by surprise while we're in there. I might be able to sense that myself, but its better safe than sorry. After we get our guy, you are going to be staying there to make sure that nobody notices one of them is missing. Matilda and Duncan will be with you on that part. I can't stress this enough, but this is a STEALTH mission JJ. I know you love to run in and make a rucus, but if you do that here, it might blow our cover. No charging in and screaming " for narnia" OK?" She explained. JJ snorted.

"Well, I mean, you gave me the idea now." They said innocently. Ruby glared full force at them.

"JJ" She growled warningly. JJ put their hands up in a placating manner.

"Alright alright, geez Ruby no need to get mad." They said, sweating slightly. Ruby sighed, shaking her head.

"And for reference, we will be using our codenames when we are out in the field. Yours was fidget right?" She asked. JJ nodded.

"Thats the name, don't wear it out." They said smugly. Ruby did not look very amused to say the least.

"...Tough croud huh?" They said over to Noah. He made a poor attempt to stiffle his laughing. Ruby tapped her fingers, waiting for the poorly concealed laughter to finish.

"Are you two jokesters done yet?" She asked with a raised brow.

The children nodded, turning their attention back over to her.

"Alright. JJ, there are a couple things that might be useful to have that Heathcliff and Duncan want to give you. Why not go get them? They should be up in the work room." She said, pointing over to the exit. JJ nodded, waving bye to Noah before running off. Soon enough they got to their destination. They briefly considered kicking the door open, but decided that would do more harm than good, and simply walked inside like a normal person probably should. Like Ruby had said, Heathcliff and Duncan were both there.

"Sup guys. Heard from Ruby you got some things for me." JJ greeted. The two waved back at them.

"That would be correct! Come over here a second." Duncan said.

JJ trodded over, and Heathcliff handed them something. It looked like a watch.

"So, we were able to get most of the things that were here up and running again, as well as refurbish them and add a few new features." He said.

"What you are holding there might look like a regular watch, but I can assure you that it isnt. For example, it can do this." With that said, he reached onto one side of the watch, pressing a button on it. A thin red laser quickly shot out of the front of it. It burned into the table in front of them. He angled it down, and it cut a clean, straight line down the middle of it. JJ's eyes sparkled in awe.

"Whoa." They breathed. Duncan nodded.

"Whoa indeed." He said, smiling.

"It has a few other features too. Like a map," Heathcliff said, pressing another button, which caused a small hologram map of the town to appear, as well as a small green dot, which JJ assumed was the watch.

"A communicator," he tapped a few things on the watch, and one of the other on the table began to ring out a small tune.

"A lockpick," once again, he pushed a button, and two small metal pieces came out of it with a click.

"And a flashlight." He finished, pressing down on the watches face, which caused a bright light to come out it.

"If you ever need it, there's also an sos feature for if you're in trouble and there's nobody near you. It'll track the watch and track where it goes so it can send it to the others. We picked up a good few of these things, so there's enough for everyone. We cant find the nose coms, so these will have to do for now." He said. JJ raised a brow.

"Nose coms?" They asked. The two adults nodded.

"Nose coms. They were tiny communicators that were implanted in your nose. They worked pretty darn well if I do say so myself." Duncan said. JJ gave a slight skeptical look, but brushed it off as just one of those spy things.

"That's not all though. We have a little thing that would probably be a much better to carry around for riding then that other thing you use." Duncan said. He reached back around the table and pulled out two things. One looked kind of like a snowboard. It was made out of metal and painted black and green. There were two things on it that were apparently where the feet went. It had a few lights on the sides as well. The second thing had two black arm straps that were connected to a grey circle with a green center.

"You can fly around on this without having to worry about falling off or anything, and I'd say it would be a LOT easier to carry around. It has a couple cool features that could help you out. I'll show you." Duncan said. He pushed down on one side of the board. It buzzed for a second before hovering in the air slightly.

"For one, you can let yourself hover without having to use your upgrades." Then he went to the other side of the room, and pressed the center of the strange harness thing. It began to glow slightly, and so did the board. The board suddenly zipped over, attaching itself to the harness.

"You can get the board to come back to you from a good long ways away." He pulled the board from the harness. He tapped on it three times, and a bright light came out of the front.

"As you can see, it also has headlights for traversing at night. There are a few options on how bright you can make that. And that's pretty much it." Duncan finished.

He handed JJ both of them, and JJ attached the board onto the pack...harness...thing and pulled it onto their back, doing a small clip strap across their chest. It was pretty snug and didn't shift around when they moved. They grinned, eyes sparkling.

"Fuckin awesome. Thanks guys!" They said. Heathcliff and Duncan gave them a thumbs up.

"Well, we all probably get back to the playground. We're probably going to start the mission in a couple hours." Heathcliff said. The other two nodded, and they all exited the room and went towards the lockers. JJ was quite nearly shaking with excitement, a wide grin stretched across their face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Guess who forgot to do a chapter earlier and was too tired to do it once they remembered? Me. It was me. Woops.


	37. Out in the field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets moving and starts their mission

Before the group actually got out there was a bit of back and forth about what equipment they should bring as well as general getting ready. JJ ended up deciding against their usual brightly colored clothes and went with a black turtleneck and baggy sweatpants as well as dark brown combat boots. It wasn't soon enough that they all finally started getting moving. The group jogged down the road silently until they came around the edges of the town where the goon territory began. They slid into an ally next to an apartment complex with an emergency stairwell to protect them from sight while they got directions.

"Alright. We know the plan right? Wheezer, you're up first. Fly over the sentry post up ahead and see if there are any easy targets. We can take down two if we need to. We'll wait for you on the roof of this building. After that Flinch can take them out and bring them back to base while Braceface and I follow. Fidget, Wheezer, and Gluestick stay behind after that and make sure nobody is the wiser. Its a stealth in and out mission. Don't make a scene." Pufferfish said.

They all nodded and stood up. Wheezer flicked her inhalers onto stealth mode and launched up into the air. They watched her leave before nodding to eachother and rushed up the emergency stairs on the sides of building. The stairs ended just roof, so they improvised. Fidget floated up with their board, Flinch simply jumped up, Gluestick walked up the side of the building, Braceface used his vest to lift himself up, and Pufferfish was picked up by the previously mentioned Braceface and placed down. Fidget was bouncing on their heels excitedly.

"This is so awesome. I'm actually on a spy mission." They said. Braceface laughed and patted their head.

"Pretty exciting huh? Unfortunately it has a tendency to loose its luster once you start doing it for a long time though." He said. Fidget frowned at him.

"Oh really? How many missions have you all been on?"

"Oof. Hard question. Too many to count honestly. Shouldn't you know that from the mission files?" Gluestick said. Fidget crossed their arms and nodded with a slightly frustrated look on their face.

"Yeah, but that little self destruct thing you did to the playground messed some stuff up on the computer. A lot of files got deleted or corrupted and I'm no digital master, so I don't know how to salvage that stuff." They answered. The others nodded in understanding.

"Exactly how damaged was the place when you found it? You seemed to do a pretty good job of fixing it up." Flinch chimed. Fidget thought for a moment, tapping a finger on their hip.

"Well, pretty damaged I would say. A lot of things were sparking and in pieces. Some things had fucked up wires and things weren't where they were supposed to be. I had to do a lot of improv with what I could. I'm lucky I know a bit about metalworking and electronic fixing from my moms. My mom was a blacksmith and my mutter knew her way around tech if she needed to do something with it. It was a lot of trial and error to be completely honest." They explained. The others were a bit impressed to say the least.

The next couple minutes continued with idle chit chat, but soon enough Wheezer was back. She flew over to the building, landing with a dramatic flip, which got a few claps.

"Looks like we got it pretty easy. There's a goon who just got mad and stormed off from his group. Doesn't look like the others are even worried." She said. After that, she gave Flinch the directions, and he sprinted to go off to get the goon.

"Alright guys. You know what to do. Flinch, Braceface, and I will go back to base, and Gluestick, Wheezer, and Fidget will stay to make sure nobody is alerted. If anything happens, you can call us on the watches and we'll get there as soon as possible. Everyone get it?" Pufferfish said. She was met by a chorus of affirmative noises, and she nodded. Soon after that, Flinch was back, with a large man tossed across his shoulder. Fidget whistled slightly.

"Damn. Those fuckers are big. Jeez." They said. Braceface stifled a laugh.

"Well I would say anybody is pretty big compared to you." He said. Fidget whipped their head around and gave him an icy glare. They trodded up to him, before launching themselves up, grabbing onto his shoulders and digging their legs into his sides so as to not fall off and put their face close to his, nearly touching noses.

"I will make sure they never find your pieces once I'm done with you." They growled. Braceface shut up quite quickly, and began sweating nervously. The others looked on in various states of surprise, fear, and discomfort. Fidget hopped off of him and he and the others were quickly gone, leaving the three smaller members together.

"Alright guys, plan is, we triangulate. Gluestick, you take the bottom. Fidget, you take the top left. I'll take the top right. Don't go too far." Wheezer said, pointing over to different locations. They nodded, and split. Fidget hopped on their board and flew over to where they were placed. It was closer to the highway out of town, and there were a lot of trucks and goons milling around a few of the buildings. Fidget nestled down into an orange tree that was growing in a garden on one of the roofs. Its leaves covered enough so Fidget could see them but they couldn't see Fidget. Shifting around to get into a more comfortable position they took a deep breath, letting the cool air pass through their lungs. This could take a while.


	38. Captive by feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fidget continues to be vigilant. A choice they may regret later

Fidget sat quietly in their tree, watching over their assigned area vigilantly. They looked back over at the areas where Gluestick and Wheezer were supposed to be stationed, looking to see if they could see if they were visible. It didn't seem that they were. Suddenly there was a small beeping noise from their watch, and a light flickered on and off on it. One of the others was calling them. Fidget pressed the answer button on their watch, and Heathcliff's voice came in.

"Hey Fidget. Just checking in. Anything to report?" He asked. Fidget looked back up, flicking their gaze around to the area. Nothing seemed to be disturbed. There was a large building just in front of them that seemed to be more guarded than the rest. Goons were going in and out frequently, and there were a few heavier armed henchmen guarding the front.

"Nope. Nothing really. There's a big building in front of me that's being guarded more than the other ones, but I don't know whats going on in there. I'm not gonna risk getting too much closer." they replied.

"Alright, good. The interrogation is taking longer than expected. This guy has some pretty tight lips. You might be there for a little longer." Heathcliff said. Fidget shifted again, stretching out their limbs before settling again.

"That's fine. I've got a pretty good spot, so I'm not really worried about being spotted." They said.

"Great! I'm going to check in with the others now." Heathcliff's voice stopped, and there was a small static noise indicating the call had shut off. Fidget sighed, letting their gaze go back to the ground. A few minutes later, something started happening. A couple of the goons went over to the trucks, got in and started them. Fidget leaned forward slightly in curiosity, looking on at what was transpiring.

A group of goons came out of the guarded building and began talking to the henchmen. The henchmen nodded, leaving their posts to go into the building. While that happened, a few goons separated into groups into the trucks. There were about twenty of them, as well as about three motorcycles. Fidget's eyebrows furrowed, and they tapped their watch a few times, calling Heathcliff. A few seconds later, his voice came in.

"Hello Fidget! Something to report?" he asked.

"Yeah. Looks like somethings up on my end. There are a lot of trucks here and it looks like some of the goons are getting ready to start moving them somewhere. There were guarding the big building in front of me, but they just went in a couple minutes ago. That's all I needed to report. I'll get back to you if something else happens. You might wanna tell the others to hurry up the interrogation." They replied. Heathcliff started saying something, but got cut off by Fidget shutting off the call. Their attention was quickly drawn back when sudden loud shouting rang through the area. One of the henchmen from before suddenly crashed through the door of the building and lay still on the ground, and soon after, the other one came running out behind him. He was disarmed, not having the gun that he had before.

Fidget looked back at the door where the henchmen had come from, and suddenly, everything seemed to stop. Running through the door, followed by a good lot of other people, were two women that were very familiar to them. Their mom was extremely tall, reaching at least a full seven feet, and had dark skin and black fluffy hair that wasn't in its usual ponytail on top of her head. Her look was fierce and determined as she plowed down a few goons, smacking a few goons with the gun that had been stolen from the henchman. Their mutter was considerably shorter, and had short blonde hair as well as pale skin. She looked focused as she fought nearly back to back with the other woman, sending precise strikes to any enemies that came near. Fidget's throat seemed to close, and their heart began slamming in their chest.

They clicked a few buttons, getting in a call with Heathcliff, Wheezer, and Gluestick. There were a few attempts to start a sentence, but Fidget cut them all off. They had to force their voice down to make sure they didn't shout.

"Fuck, holy shit, guys, shits going down over here. My moms are here, holy fucking shit GUYS. I need to get down there and help them! There are a few other people too." They said. Their voice was rushed and high pitched. Their body was twitching, ready to jump into the fight any second.

"Fidget, don't move. I know you want to save them but if you charge in and try to fight everyone in there, you're going to break our cover." Gluestick said over the watch.

"Yeah. Just wait, we'll be there in a minute. Maybe they can get away." Wheezer said reassuringly.

"Were almost done over here." Heathcliff informed. Fidget gritted their teeth, their hands clenching into white knuckled fists.

"Fuck...yeah. Fine. I'll try. Don't blame me if I charge in to kick ass though." they said. They slammed their finger down onto the watch to once again stop the call on their end, quickly looking back at the transpiring fight. As it seemed, unfortunately, the captives, including their moms, were being quickly outnumbered by the goons. One by one they all went down. Their moms went down last. Their mutter whipped her fist into the side of one of the goons heads, knocking his balance off. She took a step forward and shoved him back, causing him to stumble and fall back. Two goons came up behind her, grabbing her shoulders and slamming her into the ground. One put his foot on her throat and held her in place. Her mom sent a hard kick into one of the goons groin before she saw it. When she did she yelled out in anger, charging forward to tackle one of the goons holding her mutter.

She was able to land a few solid punches, but soon enough one of the henchmen from earlier that had been thrown through the door stepped in, pulling out a tazer and pressing it to the back of her neck. She jolted and twitched, falling forward. A pair of handcuffs were placed quickly on both women's wrists. Fidget wasn't going to stand there any longer. They jerked forward, beginning a sprint towards the edge of the building, reaching back to grab their board. However, they weren't able to make it off the building, as two hands grabbed their shoulder and picked them up and pulled them slightly away from the edge. Fidget wiggled around fiercely, attempting to free themselves from the grasp of whoever held them. Turning their head, they saw that the one holding them, was Gluestick. Standing slightly behind him was Wheezer.

"What are you DOING? I need to get over there and help them!" Fidget hissed. Wheezer and Gluestick looked at eachother, exchanging a look.

"Fidget, look. We know you want to help them, but we'll break cover if we do. The others finished their work and are heading over now. We have to leave." Wheezer said with a sympathetic tone. Fidget let out a loud growl, attempting once again to jerk away from Gluestick's grasp desperately. They looked down at where their mothers and the other captives were. They were all being forced into different trucks, probably to be sent to wherever the fuck The Judges base was. Their moms fought a bit more, but were subdued quickly and thrown into a truck with a few others. Their mom shuffled closer to her mutter, placing her head onto hers and looked up.

Where their mom looked, however, was exactly where Wheezer, Gluestick, and Fidget were set. Their moms eyes settled onto them, and went wide. Fidget locked eyes with her, and their heart jumped into their throat. They reached out an arm to her. She jerked up, nudging their mutter and gesturing to them with her head. Their mutter similarly locked onto the three on the roof. She seemed to mouth something, but the truck started moving down the road towards the highway. Fidget had to choke back a scream for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, this is kinda the turning point of this fic. Shits gonna be hitting the fan hard after this point.


	39. Running off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ makes another, very bad mistake. One that another will pay for

When the group left, JJ had to be pulled away. They struggled and kicked and growled at the others, but eventually they were able to get home. JJ was placed down and they immediately rounded on the others.

"What the fuck guys!? I need to go back and find them! Their in danger! Who the hell know what could happen to them when they get to where their going!" They yelled. Their voice cracked a few times and tears were beginning to prick at their eyes. The others exchanged a few looks.

"Look...JJ. We know you want to go save them, but you can't right now. If you try to do that now without any idea of a plan, you might as well get captured too. Sorry JJ." Duncan said, patting their head. JJ was completely frozen, with something akin to betrayal painted across their face.

"Why don't you go and calm down? It might help a bit." Julio said placatingly. JJ growled and grit their teeth, turning on their heel and storming away.

"Hey guys! Welcome ba-" Heathcliff's greeting was cut short as JJ slammed into him, continuing to storm away. Noah, who was next to him, turned and jogged up behind them, attempting to put a hand on their shoulder. They, however, were not having this. They jerked away from his touch, whirling around and shoving him back with both hands. Noah stumbled and fell to the ground with a bewildered and confused face. JJ seemed to regret the action, but they shook it off, squeezing their eyes shut, turning, and sprinting in the other direction.

The others watched them go with a mix of sympathetic and surprised looks. JJ had never rounded on someone like that before. There was a long pause, tension slowly fading from the air.

"That...was an understandable reaction actually." Matilda said. The others nodded.

"Know what? I'm gonna go check up on them." Jackson said. He walked forward away from the group and toward where JJ had run. It wasn't where the lockers were, so he knew they wouldn't be in The Playground. He predicted they most likely went to the library. So, following his intuition, that's where he went. When he got there, the room was completely dark. No light came from anywhere in the room. He was about to leave to look somewhere else, but he heard a few small noises from inside. Namely small sniffles.

He walked into the room silently, without turning on the lights, peeking around a few bookshelves to check for his target. Soon enough, he found them. There, sitting with their arms wrapped around their legs and head buried in them, was JJ's small, dark figure. Jackson walked forward, crouching down in front of them. They heard him walking to them, and hugged their legs harder.

"Fuck you want?" JJ asked quietly. Their tone dripped with ice, much different than usual.

"Hey now, no need to get angry. I was just checking up on you." Jackson replied. He scooched forward, and dropped next to them. There was a long pause.

"Did you figure out where the base was?" JJ finally asked. Jackson nodded, even though they couldn't see him.

"Yeah. According to the guy, they set up base in chase city. So not too far from here actually." He replied. JJ shifted slightly, pulling their head from their legs to look at him. It was still very dark, so he couldn't see what their look was all that well.

"...Are you guys figuring out a plan to get in yet?" They asked.

"Well...no, not yet, but we'll do that in a bit probably."

"Oh. Yeah, fine." JJ rubbed at their face, sniffling a few more times. Jackson reached over tentatively and ruffled their hair slightly.

"Hey. Don't worry. Your parents are probably fine. Once this is all over you'll be able to go home with them, I'm sure." He said. JJ shook their head slightly.

"You shouldn't be so sure. If I dont try to save them, they might be dead by the time we're done." They said. Jackson sighed, standing back up.

"Well don't go off doing that just yet. Why don't you go get something to eat and sleep after that? Its been a long day." He said. JJ said nothing in return, simply standing up and leading the way out of the room.

That night, JJ didn't appear at dinner. Jackson hadn't seen them since the little check up he had with them. Something bothered him most of that night after their talk, but he couldn't exactly pin down what. Something just felt very, very wrong. He decided to check on JJ again. He didn't really know what made him want to do it, but something wasn't right. He dropped into The Playground, immediately jogging to where their bed was. They weren't there. He looked around, and saw that their board, backpack, and watch were missing. This most definitely confirmed that something was wrong. He made his way back up, and when he passed by the storage area, he saw that one of the blasters that were usually placed on the wall, was missing.

"Oh. Oh no. They better not have." Jackson said under his breath. He went to his room, where he had placed his watch. He turned it on, immediately going to the map. On it, were a few green dots. Most of them were extremely close, but one lone dot was quickly making its way from the area.

"Fuck. They did."


	40. Bad mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aka the exact moment where shit starts getting fucked and JJ is still an impulsive kid

JJ's hair whipped around slightly as they were propelled through the sky by the board they stood on. Their eyes were locked forward, set in a determined glare. They looked back at the watch for a second to get their directions right. The map, as always, showed seven small green dots. JJ's dot was moving quickly toward the edge of the town as they moved, but soon they realized, a second dot was moving toward them as well. They tensed up, reaching forward and tapping the dot. Above it, two small letters popped up. BF, the initials for their codenames. All of them had them. Ruby's was PF, Matilda's was WR, Duncan's was GS, Julio's was FH, Heathcliff's was HH, theirs was FT, and the one in front of them, was Jacksons. Almost as soon as they checked it, a small ringing noise came from the watch. It was a call from him.

JJ immediately denied it, turning their attention to flying once more. However, again, there was a buzzing from the watch. It was a message this time.

BF: JJ I swear to all that is good you better not be doing what I think you're doing.

JJ groaned, rolling their eyes. They decided to humor him. They were probably going too fast to catch up too anyway.

FT: Yeah. I am. And there's nothing you can do to stop me. Sorry, but I'm not just gonna sit on my ass when who the fuck knows what is happening to my moms.

BF: JJ no. I know you're worried, but if you do this you're going to regret it. What are you even planning on doing?

FT: I dunno. I'll figure it out when I get there. Probably blow a few walls down if I can. Break a few heads and see where their being kept.

BF: You might know karate but you're still a tiny kid. Do you really expect you're going to be able to fight possible hoards of goons, henchmen, and minions?

JJ hadn't thought about that. He was right. They could most definitely take down a few, and the size difference between the hulking bad guys and JJ gave them an edge in a fight. They were small, fast, and light. All of those things would be useful in fights against a few opponents, but it also worked against them. If they got hit hard enough from one of those guys they would be on the ground in seconds, even if they weren't knocked out. They were also extremely easy to pick up, so if one of those guys were able to get a good hold on them, it would be over for them. Even though they could take hits like a truck, they would be easily overpowered and outnumbered by a large group of goons.

FT: I'm not gonna be getting up close in personal if I don't need to. I'll just coast on my powers. Chill dude. You don't need to try to come after me.

BF: Correction, I most definitely need to. I am NOT letting you do this

FT: Already am. Now if you dont mind, I'm gonna turn off my messages now. can't have you distracting my flight.

After that, they quickly shut off the messaging and calling system, going back to the map.

They pulled the hood of their hoodie up, pulling around the front of it and zipping the front of it. It was black and had a skeleton pattern all over it, and the mask went all across their face, where there were two patches of see through material that they could see out of. Looking back to the map before looking forward again, revealed that they were getting closer to the road they needed to get on. They were quickly reaching the edges of where they had staked out the place. Feeling slightly confident, they flew down a bit, passing by the orange tree that they had sat in. And...oh. Oh no. The immediate regret of flying closer hit them like a ton of bricks, sending their heart slamming into their chest. There was a henchmen standing right next to the tree. And he had seen them. There was a brief moment when the two locked eyes, and the henchmen's gun was pulled from its holster.

JJ swerved, attempting to go higher, but there was a loud gunshot, and a bullet shot into the mechanism that held the shoe locks in place. They only had a second to get lower as they tipped over backwards, falling unceremoniously off the board. They slammed into the ground hard. Their vision immediately went darker as searing pain crashed through their body. The loud yelling around them was quieter than it should have been as JJ fought to retain conciseness. They tried to push themselves up, but their arms shook under them and they tipped over once again. Their head hurt, and their ears seemed to ring slightly. They felt disoriented and the world spun slightly. They heard multiple people surrounded them, and a hand grabbed the back of their hoodie, forcefully pulling them up.

"What the hell? Where did you come from?" one of the people surrounding them asked. There was a sound of a door slamming, and the henchmen that had shot them down came jogging out of the building.

"They were flying by on that weird board thing. Shot em down right quick." he said. One of the other goons leaned down and picked the board up off the ground, examing it.

"Well whatcha think we do with em? the goon holding them said. The henchmen thought, tapping his side.

"It would be best to send them back to base. They could probably figure out what type of crazy shit this thing pulled." He replied. The others shrugged, and began to disperse as JJ began to get tugged in a different direction. They struggled a bit, attempting to free themselves from the goons grasp, to no avail.

"Hey! Put me the fuck down you asshole! Lemme go!" JJ snarled. The goon growled, pulling an arm back and backhanding them.

"I suggest you shut the hell up." He replied. JJ growled again, attempting a kick to his knee, which they missed. Suddenly, there was a loud crack as a metal fist flew straight into the goons face. He flew backwards, dropping JJ from his grasp. They JJ dropped to the ground, wobbling a bit on their feet. They felt someone else pick them up, this time much more gentle.

"Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Are you OK?" Jackson said. JJ blinked a bit, before nodding.

"I think so. I might have a bit of a concussion though. I hit the ground pretty hard. Just lucky it wasn't concrete." They replied. Jackson nodded, looking back to where goons and henchmen were gathering.

Analyzing the situation, he quickly realized there was absolutely no way they were going to be able to fight all of those people off. He gritted his teeth. Looking back to JJ, he pushed the button on the center of their carrier, causing the board that was a little ways away to come flying back to them.

"JJ, you need to get out of here. Now. Get back to base. I'll cover you, OK?" He said. JJ frowned up at him.

"What? No! I can't leave you here to fight alone!" They answered back. Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose, looking back and forth between JJ and the quickly gathering goons.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. I'll be right behind you, just go." He said. Pressing the hover button on the board, he placed JJ onto it, and used a hand to push them as far away as he could before turning back to the bad guys.

JJ looked back to him for a second before clenching their hands and flying back, away from the transpiring fight. They reached down and pressed the messaging button.

FT: Guys, uh, I fucked up. I ran off again to try to go find my moms but Jackson figured me out but I didn't think he would be able to catch up so he would just turn around but I got a lil reckless and ended up getting the shoe clamp things on my board shot and they didn't work so I fell off and I might have a concussion idk but Jackson is still back there and I'm heading back rn and Jackson said he would be right behind me but I can't see him and idk what to do

Their hands shook slightly as they sent the message, sighing and looking back again. It still didn't look like Jackson was following them yet. They were beginning to start feeling nauseated. They slowed their flight slightly, as they could feel themselves slipping slightly. They sat on the board with their legs dangling off, and they definitely not very high. Just about four feet.

There was a buzzing, and they checked their watch.

PF: JJ, you are very much in trouble when you get back.

WR: Bad move kiddo. /

GS: That was really dangerous JJ. Hopefully Jackson can get out of there

HH: Uh, guys? Jackson's moving away from us. Not towards us now.

JJ almost completely froze, they checked there map, and sure enough, Jackson's dot was moving quickly away from their area. They cursed loudly. He must have been stopped or something.

PF: Oh no

FH: Okay. yeah. not good.

WR: JJ, you said it yourself, but you fucked up.

FT: Okay, yeah. I'm going back. Not gonna leave him behind.

GS: With a concussion and a malfunctioning board? I don't think so.

PF: Get back here and we'll figure out what to do. JJ, I'm disappointed.

JJ put their head into their hands, taking deep breaths. Thoughts whirred through their head, causing it to hurt even more. They really fucked up badly. Their chest tightened and it became slightly harder to breathe. They knew they fucked up bad. Really bad. Now Jackson was going to be in the hands of that phycopath and who knows what the hell would happen to him. Tears pricked at their eyes, but they didn't let them fall. They had to figure out some way to fix this. But first, they just needed to get back to base.


	41. We got a fight on our hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson has a bit of a fight on his hands. And like hell hes going down easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning in this chap for a violence and a bit of blood. Nothing too explicit though. I also made it a bit shorter than i would have liked because 1# i cant do time skips for shit, and 2# i was afraid about the word count over on fanfic.net. lmao sorry

Jackson used one hand to shove JJ as far off as he possibly could away from the area. He saw them give him one last look before shooting off. He hoped that they would be able to get back to base safely. Like hell he was going to let them get captured by the phycopath running this whole shit show. Turning back, he saw that a large group had already gathered. He pushed one fist into one hand, cracking his knuckles, then did the same for the other. Then he cracked his neck and got into a ready stance.

"Alright boys. So. We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way being you let me go, and the hard way being I kick every single one of your collective asses before leaving. Which one is it gonna be?" He said. He didn't actually expect them to let him go. It seemed he was right as one of the goons charged him with a battle cry.

"Hard way it is then." Jackson said quietly.

The first went down easily, only needing a swift punch to the jaw to go down. Four more came at him, three of them were swatted away by his vest. The last remaining threw a punch at his face, but Jackson grabbed the fist, using his other hand to grab his shoulder. He pulled him closer, shifting one leg behind the goons other, and pulled through, causing him to topple over, where he was grabbed by a metal hand and tossed into the crowd, which took out about five more. He created a large hammer, using it to smash two goons into a wall. Loud cries of pain came from them as they toppled to the ground, most likely with multiple broken bones. He darted forward into the crowd, jumping up and kicking on of them twice before landing, and kicking behind him, taking out another.

He made large propeller like blades, spinning them around his body and slashing away ten of the people who had surrounded him. Blood spattered onto the ground as they all went down, a couple very likely dead. He grabbed two, tossing them into four in front of him and smashing them into the ground with a large hand. One of the goons got I'm close and slammed one leg into Jackson's side. He gasped for sir and stumbled back, throwing a punch into the goons throat and sending him down. He sweeped a large group of seven people out in front of him with one big metal panel and threw them into the air. Suddenly, something sank into his neck, and he jerked as electricity went through his system. There was a small thud as he fell to the ground. He was pulled up, and something else, a needle, went into his neck and his vest was pulled off.

He growled, smashing his head into the chin of the goon who was holding him. Jackson dropped and turned on his heel, slamming a fist into the mans temple. He was starting to feel very tired. He realized what that needle was. Tranquilizer.

"Shit." He swore. He stumbled slightly as his vision blurred. Two more goons took ahold of his shoulders, and another tranquilizer was shot into his neck. He slumped over, dead weight. He was dragged somewhere, although he wasn't exactly sure where as his head was getting foggier by the second. He was tossed into some kind of prison van, and the door slammed shut behind him. He tried his best to stay awake, but to no avail as his eyes drifted shut and he passed out. The last thing he felt was the feeling of the van he was in rumble to life and starting to drive forward.


	42. Back again back again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally home, and ready to face the consequences

The others were already waiting inside the base when they got there. Ruby was pacing, and the others looked nervous. When Ruby heard JJ enter, her head snapped over to them, and she stormed over. Definitely not happy.

"What were you THINKING?" She cried. JJ flinched back slightly at the loud tone. She sounded angry to say the least.

"Actually, no, you know what? You probably weren't even thinking were you? You just went off on impulse without even thinking about the consequences. Do you even have anything to say?" JJ closed in, gripping one arm with the other and looking down.

"...Sorry." They said quietly. Ruby shook her head. Pinching the edge of her nose.

"Just being sorry doesn't CUT it JJ." She growled back. She was about t continue, but luckily for JJ, Heathcliff intervened, putting one arm in front of them.

"Hey now, I know you're angry, but you shouldn't take it out on them. How about I just go see how bad they got hurt and talk to them a bit while you calm down. We can think of a way to fix this." He said. Ruby glared at him lightly, but turned on her heel and walked away down the other hall. Heathcliff was quiet for a second before he patted their shoulder and turned them towards the hallway leading to the nurses office. The two walked silently, JJ's gaze fixed to the ground. They arrived, and Heathcliff opened the door and gestured inside. JJ trodded in and plopped down on one of the beds. Heathcliff went over in the back, shuffling around a bit before coming back with a small icepack wrapped in a hand towel. He gave it to JJ and they placed it on their head. Heathcliff sat next to them.

"JJ, I'm not really sure what I should really say about this. You...I get that you were worried, and rightfully so, but you can't just...go off like that." He said. JJ looked away from him slightly, eyes still stuck to the floor.

"You acted on your impulses without stopping to think about what could happen. Its not a good thing to do. You need to work on that." JJ shook their head, gripping their pants.

"No. I knew what could happen. I...I just thought...I thought I could handle it." They said. Heathcliff stared at them, freezing for a second.

"...Oh. Well I wouldn't think that anyone could handle that. Much less one kid, albeit a superpowered one. You shouldn't either. You're not invincible because you have powers now." Heathcliff said slowly. JJ only nodded. Heathcliff sighed, shaking his head.

"Alright. You'll want to rest a lot and keep some ice on that when you can. Give your head some time to heal." He said, getting up. JJ nodded again, hopping up and quickly exiting the room without a word.

They walked quietly, but stopped when they closed in next to the library. The others voices were echoing out of it.

"Ruby, calm down we're all freaking out in our own ways, but you need to calm down." Duncan's voice said.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? Like hell I'm going to calm down! Who the heck knows what's happening to Jackson right now? For all we know he could already be dead! And JJ needs to get it into their head that abusing their upgrades like that puts us all in danger. " Ruby's voice yelled back. JJ cringed inward, pulling their arms to their chest.

"I mean, yeah, but don't you think taking them away is a bit much? We could probably get the same idea in their head with a stern talking to. And come on, let's not get worst case scenario with Jackson's situation." Matilda said.

Oh. So that's what was happening. JJ should have guessed that would probably be what would happen. They guessed it was reasonable, considering they had already nearly killed themselves with it two times already.

"Why don't we just focus on making a plan for Jackson right now? We can deal with JJ later." Julio said. JJ backed away from the door, turning on their heel and leaving toward the playground. They were probably lucky that Ruby didn't seem to be paying attention to her allergies. They definitely would have been detected otherwise. They dropped into the playground, landing lightly. They headed over to the upgrade room immediately. They didn't need to be told to get them removed. They could do it themselves. It was definitely painful, but still something they could deal with. After that they simply dropped onto their bed and decided to get at least some semblance of rest.

It was more or less half a hour before someone finally came down. Regrettable since JJ was just on the edge of sleep. It was Duncan.

"Hey JJ! Uhh, can we talk for a second?" He asked. JJ grumbled something back.

"What?" Duncan said.

"Nicht stören. Don't bother." They translated.

"I already heard you guys talking. So I did it already. You can go now." Duncan froze at that. He rubbed his neck a bit.

"I hope you know its not because we have a grundge against you. But-"

"Yeah I know." JJ cut him off. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped. He turned, giving them one last look before leaving. JJ grit their teeth, curling in on themselves and pushing back the tears that stung at their eyes.


	43. Arrival in the center

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson has arrived. Hopefully help will come

slowly, and there was a strange fog that clouded his head, making it hard to think. He tapped the area in front of him. It was metal. He felt the ground he was laying on shake, and there was the distinct sound of an engine coming from somewhere in front of him. His eyes opened slowly, taking in his surroundings. It was a prison van. He rolled onto his stomach, pushing himself up off the floor with shaking arms, and stumbling to his feet. He still felt tired and weak, and his legs felt like jello, almost sending him back to the floor. Probably the courtesy of the two tranquilizers they had used on him. He remembered his watch. Suddenly, he felt the car start to slow down, making him wobble slightly. Shit, if they got their hands on it they would be able to track the others. He quickly unclipped it, and slammed his heel into it a few times. It broke into pieces. There were a few muffled voices, and a minute later the doors opened. There were two goons standing there. Jackson immediately punched one of them in the jaw, but was cut off from any more attacks by the second goon grabbing his arms and forcing them behind him, clapping a pair of handcuffs onto his wrists.

He thrashed, attempting to get away, but the goon wrapped and arm around him and slung him over his shoulder.

"Hey! Put me down!" Jackson yelled loudly, kicking at the goon with what little strength he currently had. The goon he had punched smacked him across the head.

"Shut up." He growled. Jackson growled back at him, but opted to take in what surroundings he could see from where he was. It was sparsely dotted with a few, almost broken down looking buildings. There were goons and henchmen millimg around, as well as a few people who could only be described as prisoners. They all had dark and vacant looks in their eyes, looking almost dead in truth. Most of them looked worn down, with multiple scars spanning their bodies. Jackson's throat closed on him for a second.

He craned his body as far as it would go to try to see in front of them. There was a small brick building with a large chain link fence around it that had an absolute absurd amount of barbed wire on it. There was a heavy guard around it, henchmen at every corner of the place. They nodded at the goons who held him, and opened the gate for them. They walked toward the building, and opened its door. Inside, was a plain room with a large stairwell leading down somewhere. Looking to the side of the room, there was a single person mopping up something that looked like blood from the floor. His fear was quickly confirmed when they continued forward, showing that in the corner of the room was a cart with a broken and bloody body on it. Jackson was starting to feel sick.

They entered the stairway and began their decent. The walls were a plain grey, and florescent lights flickered overhead. It was a long way down, but they eventually landed on the smooth stone floor. Continuing down the hall, there were multiple crisscrossed hallways and doors, and there were goons and henchmen swarming the place. Jackson though he saw one of the bigger goons give him a sympathetic look, but that probably wasn't the case. They continued walking. Along the corridors were numbers, and as they started getting higher, the area started getting more cleanly and better kept. Soon enough, the stone floor shifted to marble, and the dark and dreary lighting turned brighter. There were painting adorned on the walls of pretty forests, lakes, and mountains. Strange for a villains lair since most were more tuned toward violent and intimidating scenes.

Suddenly, they stopped. Jackson once again leaned around to try to see in front of them. At the end of the hall, was a set of cherry oak double doors with ornate handles. Above the door was a silver plaque that read "The Judge". The goons looked extremely nervous, sweating and and looking back and forth between eachother and the door. One of them finally walked forward, knocking on the door.

"Come in." Came the reply. The goons stiffened, before opening the doors,stepping inside, and tossing Jackson onto the floor harshly. He sat up onto his knees, and looked in front of him. There was a black desk there with a black leather chair behind it, and sitting on it, was the judge. He opened his arms with a sickly sweet smile on his face.

"Why hello! It has been such a long time since I have last seen you. Welcome!" He said. Jackson sneered at him.

"Fuck off." He spat. The Judge sighed, and one of goons kicked his head, sending him back to the floor.

"Such vulgarity. We'll have to see if we can teach that out of you in the future." The Judge sighed. Jackson got back up, gritting his teeth.

"Great, you got me here. The hell you going to do now?" He snarled. The Judge clapped his hands, a hateful grin starting to split his face.

"I'm glad you asked! We're going to do what we do to all the people who come here." He settled his head on his clasped hands, looking down onto the other man.

"We're going to break you. I must say, I'm going to have fun with this. After all, you are the one who prevented my plans from being put in action earlier." He said. Jackson stiffened and glared.

"Good luck with that. My team is probably already on their way to get me out of here and take you down. Your ass is grass." He growled. This gained him a harsh kick in the ribs. The Judge shook his head with a smirk.

"I sincerely doubt that. No one even knows where you are I'm guessing. No one is coming to save you." He replied. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Alright, take him to his cell now. I have quite a few things to plan for our first session. I am truly sorry that this little meet up was so short, but it was mostly just for clarification. I didn't know if it was truly you after all." He said. The goons behind him grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him up, before shoving him out the door. Jackson hoped help would be coming soon.


	44. Hey there buddy chum pal brotha amigo buddy chum pal chum brot-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kiddos talk a bit

JJ opened their eyes reluctantly, taking in the sight of The Playground once again. They had woken up about half an hour ago, but they didn't want to go back up. They shifted onto their back, looking up at the ceiling. They groaned, before finally rolling off of the bed, feet hitting the floor without a sound. They pulled on new clothes, and went up. They walked along the corridors hesitantly, anxiety clutching at them as they neared the cafeteria. They stood near the door, before taking a deep breath and entering. As they thought, the atmosphere of the room immediately became tense, and eyes settled on them.

"Morning JJ. How's the head?" Heathcliff greeted. JJ shrugged.

"Fine." They answered. They scanned the groups. A few eyes were on them, but Ruby in particular refused to look at them. JJ's eyes went to the floor, jogging quickly to grab their food. Noah was quickly beside them.

"Hey JJ. You ok?" He asked. JJ nodded.

"Yeah. But I'm not gonna stay in here. Let's just go to the living room and chill there for a bit." They said, gesturing out of the room with their head. Noah nodded, running to get his food, before exiting with them. The tension started fading, and JJ breathed a quiet sigh of relief, their shoulders beginning to release tension. The two walked quietly for a while until they reached the room. JJ flicked a hand towards it. Nothing happened. They froze awkwardly for a moment before opening the door regularly. Noah stared at them.

"Oh...no...JJ, did they take your upgrades?" He asked. JJ sighed, nodding before entering the room and plopping down onto the couch with Noah following close behind.

"Yup. I don't really blame them though." JJ said, fiddling with the fork in their hand. Noah frowned, looking back onto his plate.

"I guess I can get it. No offence." He said. JJ shook their head, waving him off.

"None taken." They replied dismissively. They stabbed their fork into a piece of egg before shoving it in their mouth, leaning into the couch. As they chewed, their face became slowly more distant, and their eyebrows furrowed.

"JJ?" Noah asked with a worried tone, snapping his fingers in his face. JJ jerked, saying something in rushed german before shaking off whatever thought had grabbed ahold of their mind.

"Uh, yeah? What is it?" They asked. Noah stared at them for a second, looking into their face.

"Are...you okay?" He asked. JJ blinked in surprise, eyebrows going up.

"Uh, yeah? Why do you ask?" They said back. Noah raised a disbelieving brow.

"I don't belive that. You're tapping your foot and your hands in your pocket. You only do that when your worried or thinking." He replied, pointing. JJ paused, looking down. They had indeed been doing both things. They laughed nervously.

"Ohhhhh. Haha. Yeaahhhh. Don't worry, it's nothing, I'm fine. It's fine." They said. Noah obviously didn't believe it. They swallowed hard, before suddenly snatching up their plate, and shoveling everything on it into their mouth. They said something muffled and accentuated by small bits of food flying out of their mouth, which Noah cringed at, and pulled their piece of scrap out of their pocket and waved it a few times, before sprinting out of the room. Noah attempted to catch them, but they were gone by the time he opened the door.

JJ had sprinted down the hall, before sliding to a stop and catching their breath. They would rather not talk about what was on their mind. They flicked their scrap through the air a few times. It was a familiar action that they were comfortable with. As it landed in their hand, they examined it absentmindedly. It was squareish, but its edges were worn and uneven. Its surface was dulled, and didn't exactly shine. They could probably improve it. Their mom was always interested in making a cool dog tag necklace out of it for them. They thought for a moment, before shrugging.

"Eh. Why the hell not?" They asked themselves. They turned, jogging down the hall.


	45. Painful beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of a very painful stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for torture this chapter! Skip ot if you are uncomfortable or triggered by it!

Jackson shifted in his seat, once again attempting to undo the cuffs clasped firmly onto his wrists for the hundredth time. He was in a dark room, with barely anything but grey stone. He didn't know how long he had been there, but if the slight dizziness and pains in his stomach said anything, he'd probably been there for a good while. He tapped his foot, glaring at the steel door in front of him, as if that would somehow magically burn through it. He sighed, leaning back into the chair and closing his eyes. His wrists hurt from being cuffed behind him so long, and his arms ached lightly. He rolled his shoulders. It was boring, but tense. At any moment someone could come through that door, and he had no idea what would happen then.

More waiting. Minutes ticked by slowly. Suddenly, he heard voices and footsteps approaching. He tensed up, staring at the door. There was a jingle of keys, and the door clicked open. The door opened, and standing there, was The Judge, flanked by two henchmen.

"Oh great. Its the crazy bastard and his posse." Jackson growled. The Judge smirked at him.

"Let's see how long you can keep up that kind of talk." He replied, gesturing to one of the henchmen. The man walked forward, taking a strange metal clasp out of his pocket. It looked like a much wider handcuff, and there was a small red light on the front. Jackson kicked at the man as he approched, but his foot was caught, and the clasp was clapped over his ankle. He kicked at the henchman again, but he backed out of range and back to The Judge's side.

"Well I'm sure you're wondering what that is, so why don't I show you?" He said, pulling a small black rectangular object out of it. He pressed down on a button on it, and Jackson let out a pained yelp as electricity coursed through his body, leaving him slightly numb. He gritted his teeth, glaring at The Judge.

"You fucking bastard." Jackson growled. The Judge chuckled maliciously before walking up to him, just out of kicking range.

"Now, I have a couple questions I want you to answer for me." He said.

"Like hell I wou-" Jackson began to retort, but was cut off by another jolt of electricity. He clenched his fists, gritrimg his teeth and stopping himself from crying out. He'd dealt with worse.

"Wrong answer. Why not try again? I want to know if you have others with you, and where they are if you do." The Judge said.

"No." Jackson replied bluntly, staring into his eyes. The Judge sighed, gesturing to one of the henchman with a hand. The henchman stepped over to Jackson, and slammed a fist into his stomach. Jackson slumped forward slightly, gasping for air. The henchman puched him before kicking the chair over, sending him to the floor and kicking him a few times. The Judge motioned for the henchman to stop, which he did, although not before giving Jackson one last stomp to the chest.

"You know I could be doing much worse to you, correct? If you decide not to comply, there will be dire consequences." He said, leaning down at him. Jackson stiffened up before taking a deep breath.

"Do your worst." He said confidently. The Judge raised a brow. He shook his head, standing back up and reached into his pocket, pulling out a sharp butterfly knife and flicking it open.

"Very well then. Henchman, hold this for me, would you? He said, handing one of the men the button. He stepped forward, kneeling next to Jackson. The Judge looked him over once, before raising his arm and stabbing the knife into his shoulder. Jackson cried out, before shutting his mouth and breathing hard. The Judge pulled the knife out, eliciting another hiss of pain from Jackson, before dragging it across his cheek. A thin line of blood dripped from the wound.

"This could have been so much easier for you. But you just had to make this harder on yourself, didn't you?" The Judge said, flicking a hand to the henchman holding the button. He nodded, pressing it a few times and sending another wave of shocks through Jackson. He shook, grasping his hands into fists.

"We're going to have a lot of fun here. Well...at least I am." The Judge laughed.


	46. Pecking for information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ explains some of their past, which didn't used to be so happy

Noah stepped outide into the back of the school, looking around. Quickly enough, he found nonother than JJ laying face down on the dirt in front of Dandy's pen. Dandy was walking around, pecking at JJ occasionally. Noah jogged over, sitting down onto his knees and tapping their head.

"Hey JJ, you ok?" He asked. JJ let out a loud, and very long groan, not saying anthing coherent.

"Oh. Ok. I guess that's probably a no then." Noah said. He layed down next to them, attempting to take a look at their face. They mumbled something muffled before digging into their pocket and tossing some feed from it to Dandy, who quickly went to work on it.

"Uhhh, you're going to need to say that without having your face buried in dirt." Noah said. JJ groaned again, but turned their face to him.

"I don't fuckin know. I've just been thinking too much." They said. Noah raised his brow at them.

"What about?" He asked. JJ's eyebrows furrowed, eyes darkening slightly. They turned over onto their back, staring into the sky.

"I dunno. Just a lot of stuff. Like, how are we gonna get everyone out safely? And, like, I don't even know what the hell is gonna happen if I lose my moms. I don't wanna get passed around homes again." They replied. Noah frowned, reaching over and patting their shoulder.

"What's with that whole thing anyway? You never really explained about that whole thing with how you hpt to them and stuff." Noah then froze for a second.

"Oh wait, shoot, that's a sensitive subject, I shouldn't have asked." He said. JJ sighed, waving him off.

"Nah. It's fine. My moms found me in some parking lot somewhere and after they figured out that, yeah, this kids parents aren't coming back, they called the police to deal with me and whatever. Police passed me off to cps and they couldn't find my actual parents, so off to foster care or whatever I went. I jumped around a lot of homes. A lot of people didn't want me cause I was a problem child. Always getting in trouble and stuff. Had to get taken out of a couple homes cause they were abusive and whatnot. That went on, for like, three years before my moms were able to get custody of me. I was kinda aggressive for a while, not gonna lie, but they never blamed me for it. They helped me work that stuff out, and they never gave up on me. That was five years ago. I really can't imagine where I would be without them." They explained.

Noah stared for a second, taking the information in. He patted JJ's arm again.

"Don't worry, you'll see them again." He said. JJ nodde.

"They're not the only ones I'm worried about. Jackson is in there too. Who knows what the hell could be happening to him? It's been a near week. The Judge probably figured out who he is by now. I...shit dude, I dunno. Its my fault he got caught in the first place. Most of the guys can barely even look at me without being disappointed. Fuck." JJ groaned again, putting their hands on their face. Noah frowned, looking up into the sky.

"I'm sure it'll be back to normal soon. They just need to think out a plan." He said. JJ gave him a slightly disbelieving look before sitting up again, snapping their fingers. Dandy quickly ran over and hopped onto their lap. JJ ran their fingers across the soft feathers of the large chicken, and it leaned into their touch.

For a while, they stayed quiet. The only sound was the soft clucking of Dandy. Noah realized something. Around their neck was a small silvery necklace. A dog tag with their name carved onto it hung loosely at the end of it.

"Oh! JJ, where'd you get the necklace?" He asked. JJ looked confused, and paused for a second before realizing.

"Ohhhh, yeaaaahh. Remember that scrap I was always fiddling with? Yeah, well, I made it into a dog tag. Thought it would be cool, and my mom always wanted to do that with it, so I figured why not?" They replied.

"Oh! Its cool."

"Hell yeah it is." The two laughed. Worry seemed to seep away from the situation as JJ relaxed. That is until they yawned and Dandy decided it would be fun to stick her head in their mouth. Noah nearly had a hysterical breakdown while JJ attempted to scold the chicken. Which did not seem to be doing much of anything.


	47. Only a week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson is still there with no rescue

Jackson's eyes opened once again to the plain stone room. He still had no idea how long it had been. Days or weeks, he didn't know. Impossible to tell since he wasn't exactly above ground as of right now. His entire body hurt, mostly his shoulder. The wound there had a nasty scab now. Cuts and bruises littered his body in ragged patterns. He was absolutely exhausted, as the only sleep he seemed to get was when he passed out after a "session" with The Judge. Shit food too, if any. The only thing he could do to pass time was think. If he was a normal person he probably would have broken by now. Luckily, he wasn't. He was a trained super spy. He knew how to deal with this much better than some others could. He was trained for it.

He gripped his hands into fists, glaring at the wall. If The Judge thought he was going to give up like that, then he had another thing coming. He pulled himself from the ground up onto shaking legs, walking to the door. He had checked multiple times before, but there was no harm checking again. Feeling along the wall and door for cracks or dips that might be of use for escape, there was still nothing. This place didn't seem to rely on too much technology, so that wasn't something he could use to help him. He backed away from the door again, letting himself slide down the wall. A sudden shock came from the device around his ankle, causing him to let out a surprised yelp of pain. That damn thing was still there, and The Judge decided it would be fun to leave the control for it with the goons guarding his room. Fucker.

Jackson continued waiting, trying to sleep occasionally. Although whenever he did start to drift off, another shock would rip through his body from the device. He'd given up trying to get it off at this point. Touching it would send a much more powerful shock into him than what the contol for it could do. He heard footsteps, and immediately tensed, backing away from the door. There was the sound of jingling keys, and the door opened. Sure enough, there was the head fucker of the whole thing, along with two goons. The usual.

"Back for more? I would have thought you would have learned you can't break me by now." Jackson said venomously. The Judge made a small clicking noise with his tounge.

"And you still have the attitude. How...interesting. I commend you for making it this far. Most of the people we've kept here have broken within a few days. You made it through an entire week." He said, clapping slowly as he approached. Ah, so it had been a week. Felt like longer.

"Yeah, well, I think you'll find that secret agents are trained to deal with that very easily. You aren't the first one who's electrocuted me." Jackson growled. He almost laughed at the memories of when he would go through the lie detector tests with Ruby. Those were painful.

"Mmmm. All the more fun to be had then. I look forward to the day you finally break." The Judge said. Jackson pushed himself from the wall, standing up and glaring defiantly at him, fists clenching.

"I wouldn't look forward to it. It's not happening. Before you know it my team is going to be knocking on your door and breaking all of your shit. Just you fucking wait." He said. The Judge sighed gesturing to him with a hand. The goons walked over, grabbing him. He kicked and struggled before a shock went through him, and he went limp for a second. The Judge looked him over.

"I think we had enough fun with knives before. I decided we're going to do something a little different this time." He said, pulling a lighter from his pocket. Jackson froze, staring at it before his gaze went back to The Judge. He flicked it open before turning it on. He held his hand out, pushing the flame to Jackson's neck. He growled in pain, gritting his teeth. He wasn't going to give The Judge the satisfaction of his pain. The Judge only laughed at him.


	48. Scars if the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ has a bad realization

JJ glared at the picture on the screen in front of them, tilting their head and turning it back and forth. Their eyebrows were furrowed, and their hand that wasn't holding the phone was tapping furiously at their leg. They groaned, collapsing backward onto their bed and tossing an arm over their eyes. On their phone was the picture of The Judge from the news article. They had been staring at it for almost half an hour by now. Something was tugging in their gut about him, but they couldn't place it. Something was pushing at their memory, but every time they seemed to be close to figuring out what it was, it slipped away once again. It frustrated them to absolutely no end. They had studied that photo for the last week, but still nothing. They knew they were getting closer.

JJ heard the sound of someone landing on the ground in The Playground. They peeked out from under their arm at the person. It was Julio. He waved over at them, and JJ made a small greeting with their arm that wasn't quite a wave. Julio trodded over to them.

"Hey JJ. What are ya doing down here? You haven't gone out of The Playground a lot lately. What's up?" He asked. JJ made a loud noise that was a cross between a scream and a groan of frustration. They waved the picture at him.

"This guy. This motherFUCKER has something that I KNOW is familiar. Every single red ass flag is waving like one of those fucking blow up doll things that flail around when they have air pushed in em." They answered.

"You really shouldn't swear that much."

"Fuck you." The two stared at each other for a second, before Julio sighed and plopped down next to them. JJ clicked their tounge before raising their arms above their head and stretching. Julio's attention was suddenly drawn to the skin that showed from under their shirt as it rode up slightly. There were pale, almost unnoticeable scars marking it. Julio's eyebrows shot up.

"JJ, what are those?" He asked. JJ looked at him, confused, before looking down to where their shirt rode up, and realization dawned on their face.

"Oh. Yeah. Those." They said, looking uncomfortable. They chewed on the inside of their cheek.

"Just some scars. I got passed around a lot of homes for three years before I landed with my moms. Many of said homes weren't exactly all that kind. These are kinda just mementos of that. Most of them healed up pretty well luckily." They said.

They grabbed the bottom of their shirt, pulling it up more. Scars littered their body, most of them could only be seen when looking closely, but there were a few very noticeable ones. Julio froze, eyes widening. He took JJ's hands gently into his. Now that he had noticed, he started to see more scars that went up and down their arms. He had never noticed them before now.

"Ay, Dios mío. Who in the world would do this to a child?" Julio breathed quietly. JJ shrugged looking away.

"Dunno. Just some fucking asswipes. Probably in jail now. I got a big one on my back from one...of...them..." They answered, slowing down near the end. Their face dropped and their pupils suddenly shrunk into pinpricks.

"Oh...oh god." They said. Julio looked at them, worried.

"JJ, are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked, grabbing their shoulders. JJ looked into his eyes, terror in their eyes.

"I...I think...oh god. I'm remembered where I knew this guy from. Oh fuck. Shit." They fell back onto their bed, looking at the picture again. Julio sat next to them, placing his hand on their shoulder.

"What? Where did you know him from?" He asked. JJ took a deep, shuddering breath.

"This was one of the guys I got passed to. He...was an abusive fuck. I got a big scar from him on my back. Shiiiiiiitttt. This asshole nearly killed me when I was younger." They said, looking up at Julio. He balked, stiffening up. JJ was shaking, wrapping their arms around themselves. Julio wrapped his arms around them and pulled them in for a hug. That was all he could really do.


	49. Electricity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is still no signs of rescue for Jackson as his situation grows ever worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for torture this chapter! Please skip if you are triggered or uncomfortable!

Jackson pulled against the metal holding him again, to no avail. He had been cuffed to the chair again when he had taken down four goons and nearly escaped. The room was still dark as ever, the only light coming from the bottom of the door. He shifted again when he heard the jingling of keys, and flinched at the sudden burst of light from the doorway. He growled when he saw the smug face of The Judge.

"Hey fucker. Come to try and fail to make me talk again?" Jackson said. The Judge chuckled, walking in.

"Ever the confident one, aren't you?" He said.

"I try to be." Jackson replied. The Judge came close to him, examining the wounds he had inflicted before pulling a small remote from his pocket. It seemed to be different than the other one he had before.

"I don't see why we should hold off any longer. You know why we are here, now don't you? Couldn't you give up already and make this easier on both of us?" He asked. Jackson sneered at him, leaning forward.

"You wish. Like hell I would give in for you." He said. The Judge sighed, pressing down on the button. Jackson jerked, gritting his teeth. The electricity was starting to loose its effect from how much it had been done lately. Although, that might just have been the aches of all the other injuries he had. The Judge waved the remote.

"We recently had an upgrade on this little device. Isn't that fun? Now I can do this." He said. He slid something up in the remote, and pressed it again. Jackson let out a cry before shutting his mouth. Yeah, he had definitely felt that one.

"You fucking asshole." He growled. The Judge rolled his eyes, pushing the slider on the remote up again.

"Is that the only insult you have?" He asked, pressing the remote again. Jackson grit his teeth, gripping onto the chair he was cuffed to. His body was shaking slightly as his vision blurred for a second.

"Oh I have plenty. But there are more important people I could waste them on." Jackson said shakily, an attempted smirk on his face. It looked more like a cringe. The Judge sighed once more, pushing the slider as high as it would go, before clicking something else and pressing the button. Jackson screamed as electricity rushed through his body, this time not stopping after a second. His vision got dark, and he slumped over as his body convulsed. The Judge put the remote back in his pocket.

The Judge walked in front of him, leaning down to his level.

"You are such a hard nut to crack. I wonder if your friends will be the same." He said, pulling out his knife and running it along Jackson's stomach. He attempted to retort, but the only sound that left was a low groan of pain. His entire body already was beginning to feel numb as the electricity continued to course through him. The Judge pulled the knife back, and stabbed it into Jackson's uninjured arm with a sadistic grin. Another cry of pain exited his mouth, but he bit his lip, making it begin to bleed. The Judge twisted it, making him whimper slightly, attempting to pull away. The Judge pulled the knife out as blood dripped from it. There was a small pop, and his eyebrows furrowed, looking down. The device around Jackson's leg was beginning to smoke. The Judge pulled the remote back out, flicking a switch on it and turning it off.

Jackson's chest heaved as he gasped for the air he didn't realize he had let go of. His eyesight was hazy, and he felt his consciousness slipping away from him every second. He barely had any strength left.

"Y-you're a sadistic motherfucker, you know that?" He said, stumbling words over his numb tounge. The Judge chuckled.

"In your words, "I try to be."" He replied. Jackson glared at him. The Judge ran his knife across his forehead, drawing blood as he went. Jackson hissed, biting his bleeding lip once again.

"I wonder...would you be less of a hassle to deal with if you couldn't see what was happening?" The Judge said thoughtfully. Jackson's eyes snapped open, and he jerked away, knowing exactly what he was insinuating. The Judge grabbed his jaw, holding him still and bringing the knife close to his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be too unpleasant." The Judge said, grinning.


	50. Interrupted sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ wakes once again from a troubled sleep, so they take a breath.

JJ jolted, eyes shooting open. They scanned the area they were in frantically. They were still in The Playground. They were ok. They took a deep breath, rubbing at their eyes. They were exhausted, as recently, they had hardly been getting any good semblance of sleep. They reached over their bed, grabbing their phone amd checking the time. It was 4:36. They groaned, dropping the phone to the floor and falling back onto the bed and putting their hands on their face. For a minute, they stayed there, before finally pulling themselves up and leaving The Playground altogether. They walked down the halls of the school, bare feet padding softly along the cool tiled floor. They finally arrived at the front of the door, reaching out to push it open, when a voice chirped from behind them.

"And where, JJ, would you be going?" Benjamin asked, floating in place behind them. JJ froze, looking back before sighing with relief.

"Jesus fucking christ Benjamin. You nearly gave me a heart attack. Little warning next time?" JJ said, putting a hand on their chest.

"You didn't answer the question." Benjamin replied. JJ just shrugged, opening the door and holding it, allowing Benjamin to fly out into the dark front yard of the school after them. The sky twinkled with stars, the moon being almost at full.

"Can't sleep. Just going out for some fresh air. You know I can't leave anyway, since my upgrades aren't exactly there anymore." JJ said, jogging out and dropping down onto their back. Benjamin beeped a few times, hovering over their head.

"I have noticed. You have been wandering the school at the early hours very often lately. Is there a reason for this?" He asked. JJ closed their eyes, resting their hands onto their stomach.

"Just some nightmares. Not really bad. Just enough to wake me up at fuck o clock in the goddamn morning. Getting really tired of it. Literally." They growled. They grumbled something inaudible in german under their breath, chewing on their lip. They reached a hand over, pulling at the grass next to them. Benjamin flashed a few times, hovering closer.

"Ah. I see. I have a database on getting rid of nightmares and helping yourself fall asleep if you would like mr to give you some advice." He said. JJ sighed, opening their eyes. They waved him off, shaking their head.

"Nah. It's fine. Just gotta try to go back to sleep." They replied. They hefted themselves up, walking back over to the door of the school, and opening it.

"I'm just gonnna stay out here for a bit. Why don't you go back inside?" JJ said, gesturing in. Benjamin twittered for a second before flying in.

"Don't stay out too long. It's starting to get cold." He said. JJ stuck their tongue out at him, closing the door and walking back out. They plopped back down onto the grass, crossing their legs and putting their face in their hands. It was quiet save for the crickets and cicadas. If they looked closely, they could see a few fireflies glowing softly throughout the yard. They took their hands away from their face, dropping them to the ground and digging into the dirt with their fingers as they turned their eyes into the sky. They groaned, pushing themselves up. They walked back over to the school, opening the door. No use staying out there. Hopefully their sleep wasn't interrupted this time.


	51. A new development

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new development is in progress as The Judge puts in another vicious plan to break Jackson

Jackson rolled his shoulders, immediately regretting it as pain shot through them, hands twitching in an attempt to let feeling back into them. He still thanked every god that might be out there that he still had his vision. He had passed out just before The Judge had driven the knife into his eyes. Must have decided it wouldn't be fun if he wasn't awake to feel him do it. He still didn't know how long it had been. It felt like forever. His whole body was almost in a constant state of pain. No doubt there would be multiple scars. He hoped that he would be getting out soon. The others were likely putting a plan together by now, although he knew it could take a while to push together all their assets. He was sure that by now, thinking of them was likely the only thing keeping him sane and fighting. As long as they were safe, and chances of rescue were still possible, he would keep strong. Although, he wasn't sure how long he could keep that attitude up.

The door suddenly clicked. He scowled, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as it opened. The Judge, like he expected, entered. It didnt seem he had any goons or anything of the sort this time, which was strange considering he usually had at least one guard with him when he came in at all times. He knew Jackson still had fight in him after all. The Judge had a wide grin on his face. Wider than usual. No doubt he was up to something.

"Fanfuckingtastic. You're here to visit little ol me again? Great. Just great. And no possy to follow you around this time?" Jackson spat. The Judge was not affected, simply shaking his head.

"No, not today. They are going and getting some tools to spiffy you up for tomorrow." He replied. Jackson's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He sat up straighter.

"And what the hell is supposed to be going on tommorow?" He asked suspiciously. The Judge grinned wider, clapping his hands together.

"Why I'm so glad you asked. You're going to be up on stage! We have two more candidates other than you as well. Although, they will be on the chopping block. I can't say I am unhappy with that. They have been as hard to work with as you! Such ferocity. You are not on the chopping block however. Say, have you ever been flogged? It's delightful. For the audience anyway." He said cheerfully. Jackson stiffened, shivering against his will. He grit his teeth against the fear, growling.

"Can't say I have." He ground out. The Judge laughed, waving him off.

"No need to worry. You will." He said. The door clicked again before opening, and he turned his head to look.

A nervous goon stepped through. He was easily 7'3 and a hulking mass of muscle, just like the others. There were freckles dotting across his cheeks and nose. He had dirty blonde hair buzzed down mostly, and dark grey blue eyes. He was pulling a bucket of water with a sponge and a small kit at his side.

"Ah...g-got the stuff boss." He stuttered. The Judge nodded, walking over and patting him on the arm, which seemed to make him tense up.

"Perfect. Would you mind cleaning him up? I have work to oversee. We can't have our little show falling to pieces now can we?" The Judge said. The goon gave a shaking nod, backing out of his path to the door. The Judge walked out, closing the door behind him. For a few seconds, it was dead quiet.

"Uh...sorry that he caught you. I'm scared of him too if that makes you feel any better."


	52. The plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ has hatched a plan to observe their enemies

JJ twirled their necklace around their wrist as they sat nervously in the library with their legs crisscrossed on the chair. They had a few papers in front of them that they had messily written on. Some things had been scribbled on or erased, leaving the paper a muddled mess of varying colors of grey and white, striped with small blue lines. They stopped twirling the necklace, looking up to where Benjamin floated quietly.

"Uhhhh, hey Benjamin. How close are the guys?" They asked.

"Right outside the door now." He chirped as the door opened, right on cue. The team, including Noah, stepped through, walking over to them.

"Hey JJ! What did you call all of us in for?" Duncan said. JJ quickly grabbed the papers in front of them, looking between them before stacking them neatly.

"Oh, uh, well, I might have an idea? Or at least the start of an idea. It might not get Jackson out of there but it might help us in the long run." They replied.

The others eyes widened, and they looked between eachother for a second.

"Really? Give us the low down then!" Matilda said, grinning. JJ laughed slightly at the response before collecting themselves.

"Well, I was thinking...that...you know...maybe I could go over there and do some scouting? And no no, I know what you're going to say, and you don't need to give me my upgrades back. It'll be an in and out thing! Go in, pretend to be a hostage or whatever, look around, and get out. Simple! You guys can get me here then just stay off the roads and whatever so nobody sees you. You don't even need to stay if you don't want to. After you drop me off you can just go. The place is only about a two hours walk away. I've run farther than that on the daily back with my moms." They explained. However, as they ended the explanation, they went quiet.

They gripped their hands together as their eyebrows furrowed. They looked down, a dazed expression going over their face before shaking their head and looking up to the others for approval. All of them had similarly surprised and reluctant faces, looking between themselves. They obviously didn't really like the idea of JJ going off into the fray with no upgrades to protect them.

"Look...JJ, ok, yes, that may be a somewhat good idea, but that is still a dangerous plan with a lot of holes in it. How are you sure that they don't keep track of who are hostages or not? Do you know if specific groups of people are assigned to be guarded? Are you even sure that any hostages are going to be wandering around? Because one thing I learned when I was a villain, you never EVER let your hoatages wander around." Heathcliff said.

"Well that doesn't really count since the only time you ever took hostages was when you were in the arctic." Julio said. JJ looked at him, slightly bewildered.

"You were doing villainy in the fuckin arctic? Jesus." They said to Heathcliff. He rubbed his neck guiltily, laughing awkwardly. JJ looked around at all of them, including Ruby. She had stayed silent the entire time, which made them very tense. She suddenly shook her head, finally looking at JJ, which made them look down nervously.

"If they want to go, then let them. That's their choice. All they have to remember is stay safe and pull back if things get out of hand." Ruby said. The others looked at her, bewildered.

"Ruby, you're joking." Duncan said. Ruby looked at him.

"I don't think I've ever been one to joke Duncan." She said. The others looked back and forth between eachother nervously, obviously wanting to say something, but holding themselves back. Ruby turned on her heel, walking towards the door.

"We're going tomorrow. JJ, you better be ready." She said without turning her head. She then finally left, leaving the room a tense and still nervous mess.


	53. Mothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson meets two people he had previously only seen in photos

Jackson once again kicked the kinks out of his legs, and made an attempt to stretch his arms as much as possible. The goon from before, who informed him his name was Paul, had cleaned him up a little, not exactly that he was complaining. At least he didn't have the torn and bloody clothes from before now. The caked blood was gone from his body, as well as most of the beard he had grown, although he kept a small bit of it. Despite this, he was still extremely tense. He knew exactly what was coming, presumably very soon. Plans whirred through his head, attempting to grasp onto one that might be conceivable to help him escape. Still nothing. With himself outnumbered a hundred to one, and having his upgrades off the table since his vest was taken, there wasn't much hope for him getting out of the situation. But he was a spy dammit. He would figure something out.

The time ticked slowly by, making him more and more tense every single minute. Time seemed to drag on for eons, although that wasn't exactly different than usual. It had a tendency to do that when you had zero indicators of what time it was. Suddenly, the door clicked open. He blinked against the invading light from the doorway as two gruff goons stepped through, walking to him briskly.

"Oh, no Judge today? Where'd the fuck go off to? Usually he comes in and you guys just follow him around like lost puppies." Jackson hissed sarcastically. One of the goons grunted in response, not saying anything, but unlocking the cuffs from his wrists, holding them firmly, before pulling them in front of him and clamping a slightly different pair on. Soon, he was being shoved roughly through the halls, stumbling more than a few times. He hadn't actually walked in about three full weeks.

They soon came to a cross, where another couple goons came in, escorting two other prisoners. Who they were, made Jackson immediately tense, eyes widening. The first was an extremely tall woman, quite obviously at about seven feet tall, towering above even the goons. She had dark skin, marred with wounds and bruises, and an afro of messy and tangled dark brown hair. Her chocolate brown eyes were alight with a determined fire, attempting to struggle away from her captors at every moment. It took two to hold her. The second was another woman, although this time very small. About Matilda's height, if not shorter. She had pale skin, similarly marked with signs of abuse, and platinum blonde hair that was slightly disheveled. Her sea blue eyes darted around, cool and calculated, obviously thinking up a plan. No doubt in his mind, those were JJ's moms. They had shown him a couple photos before.

The groups merged, continuing on their path to where they were going. Outside, presumably. Jackson nudged the taller woman.

"Hey, you're JJ's moms right? Don't worry, they're safe." He whispered over quietly. Both women immediately looked at him, eyes wide.

"You...know JJ? Oh thank god. I was worried out of my mind." The smaller one said, equally as quiet, leaning into her wife with a relived look. There was an obvious german accent in her voice. Jackson nodded.

"Yeah. Great kid. Reckless though. They tried to go after you after they saw you get taken." He said, chuckling very slightly.

"Sounds about right. They always did like going off and doing dangerous stuff." The taller one replied, a small smile coming to her face. Jackson could definitely see that. Always the brave one. Although that bravery could do more harm than good a lot of the time.

They suddenly stopped near what looked like a large elevator, and the three were pushed inside.

"You're waiting here. The boss will bring you up once he's done his introduction." One of the goons said gruffly. He pressed a button, and the doors slammed shut. It was quiet for a second, before the taller woman leveled a harsh glare at the door.

"Fuckers." She growled. They laughed, and the smaller one turned to him.

"I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. My name is Lina. That's Amelia. May I inquire yours?" She said. "Names Jackson. Nice to finally meet you. JJ was always talking about you." He replied. Amelia reached forward with a grin, shaking his hand.

"Likewise." She said before sitting back and looking at her wife again.

"Any plans there hun? You've been thinking for a while." She inquired. Lina shook her head with a frown and furrowed brows.

"Unfortunately not. I'm trying though. For now all we can do is wait. Hopefully we can think of something together."


	54. Coming with

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noah forces the others to let him go along with his friend on their dangerous mission

"I'm coming with you."

"No. No you are not."

"I am."

"Noah, I am not gonna do this song and dance. You aren't coming with me. This is dangerous." The conversation between Noah and JJ was tense, with Noah standing straight with his arms crossed and a glare at the smaller child in front of him. JJ had similarly crossed arms, and their piercing eyes glared up at him. It was only a few minutes until the mission, and it was becoming quickly clear that Noah wasn't letting JJ go alone without a fight.

"JJ, being dangerous is exactly why I want to go with you! What if something happens and you get hurt? You're not gonna have anybody to help you! You don't even have your upgrades!" Noah cried. JJ rolled their eyes at him.

"I'll be fine. Its in and out, and I don't even need to get seen if I don't want to. I'm fine without the upgrades too. They're nice, but not necessary." JJ answered back. They turned around again, towards the small backpack they had on the table there and double checking what they packed.

Noah growled in frustration, running a hand down his face.

"That isn't the point JJ! It doesn't matter how careful you are! There's always a chance something could go wrong. And what are you gonna do then?" He said forcefully. JJ pulled the pack onto their back, turning back to him.

"Know what? Why don't we settle this with Ruby. She's the one in charge. And I'm sure she's going to agree with me." They said, walking down the hall. Noah gritted his teeth, following after them. They arrived into the main hall, where the others were waiting. Noah immediately ran over to his sister.

"Ruby! You can't let JJ go alone! I'm going with them!" He said. Ruby's face dropped, looking bewildered, as well as the others.

"What? No, you are most definitely not." She said. JJ gave a smug smirk at Noah, who glared at both of them.

"Its dangerous for them! What do you think is gonna happen if they get hurt? Do you want them to get captured like Jackson did?" He growled. That seemed to hit a nerve, as Ruby flinched slightly. JJ kept their face straight as guilt tugged at their gut harshly. That was their fault. Not his.

"I could say the same at you. If you go, and you get captured, I don't know what I would do." Ruby said. The others were looking back and forth between the three as the atmosphere became more and more tense.

"That would be a lot less likely if we had eachothers backs! JJ could watch the front, and I could watch the back so nobody sneaks up on us!" Noah replied. Duncan stepped in, hand raised nervously.

"Uh, well, if I could put in my own imput, I think sending Noah with them is a great idea. Sending JJ in alone just feel wrong. They might know how to fight, but they haven't been a spy for a good part of their life. Making them go solo isn't the best idea in my mind." He put in. Noah gave a smirk back at JJ, who stuck their tongue out at him.

Ruby put her hands on her face, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She took them away, staring at everyone. She sighed before steeling her expression.

"Alright. Who thinks Noah should go with JJ? Raise your hand." She said. Everyone but JJ and herself quickly raised a hand.

"Oh come the fuck on! You're kidding me. Ruby you aren't just gonna let him go with me like that are you?" JJ cried with an unhappy look. Ruby frowned, eyebrows furrowing. She walked forward and knelt in front of Noah, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"If I let you go, you need to PROMISE me that you are going to do everything in your power to stay safe. No going after fights, no trying to get in the way of anything, no nothing. I cannot stress this enough. I don't want you going there. Its nowhere near safe." She said. Noah nodded, making an x over his heart.

"Swear to god, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." He said with a small smile.

JJ watched, mouth agape. They suddenly rushed forward, sliding in front of Ruby with a look of pure horror.

"You aren't serious! No way. Noooooo way. Nuh uh. You can't!" They cried in a distressed tone, looking for help among the others. Ruby shook her head with a frown.

"I don't like it either. But I am. Noah, you'll share JJ's pack." She said. JJ stared on, gaping like a fish. They hardly registered anything up until they were flown over the wall by Matilda, and hopped in the van outside with the others, beginning their drive down the road.

"Don't worry. If anything goes bonkers, we're going to be fairly close. Just far enough so nobody is able to find us. We'll be able to come to your aid if something happens." Heathcliff said on the way. Noah made a sound of affirmation, but JJ didn't answer, only having their head in their hands and worrying internally.


	55. Talking in the elevator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson and JJ's moms talk to pass the time, revealing a few things about their childs background

The minutes ticked by quickly with people to talk to. It was nice to actually talk to people who didn't want to hurt him in any way. Amelia and Lina were both very nice women obviously still head over heels in love with eachother. It was endearing in all honesty.

"And they just jumped right in after the damn thing! I tried to tell them "no JJ, you can't catch a turtle with your bare hands once its escaped into the pond" but they kept going after it! It took an hour but they actually caught it in the end. We were definitely surprised." Amelia was telling one of many stories she could tell about JJ, Lina, and herself. So far she had told four. Jackson laughed at the thought of JJ splashing through a pond after a turtle.

"They really seem to love you so much." He said. The two women nodded, but Lina suddenly seemed to grow downtrodden.

"It...wasn't always like that." She said quietly. Amelia nodded with a frown, putting her hand on her wife's shoulder.

"When we first got them...they were...well, distrustful at the extreme best, and flat out violent at worst. They had no trust or love to give after everything that happened to them. It was...a long, long, long time to even get them to remotely trust us. They got scared and defensive if one of us so much as reached a hand towards them at first. They couldn't stand being touched or being in closed off spaces. They always the doors in the house open whenever possible. They hoarded food and water in their room and walked around as quietly as possible for the longest time. Any time we confronted them about it they would lash out. They had a lot of therapy done with them, which I would say helped. It was a slow climb, but we got there. You have no idea how happy it made us to see our little wunder come this far." Lina explained. Jackson nodded his head in understanding. The thought that they had ever been abused that much to make that kind of an effect punched him in the gut quite painfully.

Jackson scanned the room they were in again, looking for any type of exits. Still nothing there. He sighed, frowning.

"How did you get caught?" he asked. Amelia chewed on the side of her cheek at the question.

"It all went downhill when the robot came in. JJ had gone out for a bit, and we were watching the news. We saw what was happening, and we rushed off to find them. We weren't very lucky, so we ended up being captured." She said. Jackson blinked for a second.

"Hold on...that's right! He used to use robots didn't he? Why would he stop using them? " He said, tapping his thigh in thought. Lina opened her mouth to speak, but the elevator suddenly jerked, and a loud whirring sound echoed through it. Slowly but surely, they began to feel it begin to move upwards. The three exchanged a few worried looks, glancing around the room as if some miracle would show itself to them.

Unfortunately, there was no miracle there to save them. In a minute, the doors in front of them slid open, bright sunlight flooding in and making them flinch away. A few goons stepped in, grabbing them before stepping out into the light. They were standing in some sort of dirt courtyard of some kind, and in front of them, was a large wooden stage with a pole sticking upwards into the sky in the middle of it. Standing on it and shouting out to the front of the stage, was The Judge. More sharply dressed than usual. The goons shoved the three up a few stairs and onto the stage, revealing that in front of them, was a giant crowd of goons, henchmen, minions, and hostages alike. All of whom were looking up at the man. He stopped for a moment, turning as he heard them walk up the stairs. He grinned when he saw them.

"Ah! Finally here are you? Well I'm sure the crowd will be quite pleased!" He said loudly, as much to the crowd as it was to them. He walked to them before leaning over into Jackson's ear.

"I'm sure this will be very, very fun." He hissed menacingly. He grabbed Jackson's face in his hand, smirking.

"Such a shame such a pretty face has to be wasted." He chuckled. Jackson growled at him before spitting in his face.

"Go fuck yourself." He snarled. The Judge frowned, pulling his hand back and slapping him across the face, sending him reeling.

"We're going to have to teach you some manners now won't we?" The Judge asked. Amelia glared at him.

"You best leave him alone before I rip every limb from your puny fucking body and feed it to our chicken." She said venomously. The Judge shook his head disapprovingly.

"Unfortunately, you can't very well do that when you're dead, now can you?" He asked. There was a sudden shout from the crowd. A familiar voice. All too familiar. Jackson's heart stopped, and from the looks of it, Amelia and Lina's did as well.

"Hey! Leave them alone you pompous fucking asshole excuse for a human being!" Cried the voice. The Judge began to turn, and as soon as he did, a large rock smashed into his face, sending him sprawling to the ground. The one who threw it, was nonother than JJ.


	56. Drawing attention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two arrive at the town, and JJ pulls a dangerous stunt once they see what's going on

JJ shifted in their seat, staring out the window at the outside. They could feel their heart rising into their throat more and more as they drew ever closer to their destination. The others were talking about something or other, but JJ had drowned them out a long while ago.

"Hey. We're almost there. Get ready." Duncan said. He was the one driving at the moment. JJ nodded to him, unlocking the door and double checking their pack to make sure they had everything. Eventually, they saw the beginnings of a town in front of them, and the car slowed.

"Ok. This is the place. You two better be careful alright?" Matilda said, craning her neck to the two. They nodded, and hopped out.

"Good luck." Heathcliff called as the two began to walk down the road and into the town. The entire thing looked like a complete hell hole. Buildings were broken down and had fallen into disrepair, and if they looked closely, they were sure they could definitely see some blood spatters.

The two went from alley to alley as quickly and as quietly as possible. JJ peered around the corners and gestured to Noah when the coast was clear. They slid into another alley, and JJ suddenly grabbed Noah.

"Hey, I know out of all the times I could say this, this is probably the worst time, but if anything happens I want you to take my watch and fucking book it. I want you to leave me behind if anything happens because if you leave me behind you might have a chance of getting out. Use that sos signal that's on there, ok? Please just promise me this." They said. Noah stared at them, bewildered. He then frowned before shaking his head and glaring.

"I would never leave you if something happened! You're my friend, JJ. Friends don't leave friends behind." He answered. JJ rubbed a hand on their face, gritting their teeth.

"Noah-" They froze, standing straight up and putting a finger to their mouth. Voices echoed from the street beside them.

JJ peeked around the corner, scanning the road. A large group of hostages were being escorted somewhere by a few armed henchmen. Noah and JJ looked at eachother before JJ leaned into Noah's ear.

"When they pass, lets mingle with them. I want to know where they're going." They said quietly. Noah nodded to them, and the two crouched out of sight, waiting for them to pass. As soon as they did, JJ made a hand motion and quickly shot into the crowd, mingling easily. Noah followed, coming into step right behind them. The group didn't even seem to notice them. They continued down the road until they reached some sort of stage. JJ's stomach dropped when they saw The Judge standing on it. The stage was surrounded by different groups of hostages and guards and whatnot. Something was happening. And they didn't like it. They scanned around, looking for an exit should things go south. Noah had a nervous grip on their hand, which they squeezed reassuringly.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure all of you are quite excited for this months entertainment session! Are you not? Well, today we have not one, not two, but three participants! These three have been...a nuisance, to say the very least. Today we will be rid of two of them. The other, however, we are keeping. As of late, I have been quite interested in breaking him. Although he seems quite determined. No matter, we shall see if we can take that out of him." The Judge called to the crowd. Most of them whistled and cheered in approval. Mostly henchmen and goons of the like. JJ cringed. What poor guys were going to be put up there? And what would they do to them? They hated to think of it as their stomach dropped further. A few goons walked up from behind the stage, pushing three people up a few stairs and onto it. The world around them seemed to freeze as their attention focused on those three people. Their moms, and Jackson. Their heart began to pound in their chest, and their throat closed. Their grip on Noah's hand became like a vice as their eyes widened.

"Ah! Finally here are you? Well I'm sure the crowd will be quite pleased!" The Judge said loudly. He then went over to the three and began to speak to them. At that point, JJ's mind went into overdrive. They needed to get them out of there. But how? They gripped their head, looking down as tears clouded their vision. They felt useless without their upgrades. If they had them, then no doubt they could get out easily. Their foot bumped against something, which they drew their attention to. A large rock. Their eyes widened, and they looked at Noah. A plan had already formed as soon as they saw it. Noah saw their gaze on the rock and then him. He shook his head, panicked.

"JJ, no, don't." He hissed quietly to them. They weren't listening. They leaned down and grabbed it. Hopefully a distraction would be enough.

"Hey! Leave them alone you pompous fucking asshole excuse for a human being!" They called out. As soon as The Judge turned towards them, they let the rock go flying. It struck hard and true, sending the man to the ground. JJ grinned as Noah looked at them in horror. JJ's happiness quickly turned to horror as well as they saw that everyone's attention was now on them. They laughed nervously.

"Hahaha...fuck."


	57. Bang bang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the end, only two make it out

The world was frozen. Noah and JJ were frozen in fear. Jackson, Amelia, and Lina were staring at the two in bewilderment and horror. The Judge was on the ground completely unconscious, a large bruise beginning to form on the side of his forehead. Jackson suddenly realized that the grip on him was loose. He steeled himself, pulling forward before smashing his head back into the goons chin. Amelia and Lina took advantage of their goons surprise, and whirled around, sending a few powerful punches to their faces and sternums. The goons fell and the three rushed to eachother.

"Alright. You two grab JJ and Noah. I'll distract them." Jackson said. The two women gave him worried looks, but nodded, turning around and sprinting to jump off the stage, where the two children in question were being surrounded. Amelia burst through the crowd with Lina immediately behind her, and hefted the children onto her shoulders with no problem.

"Mom! Mutter! We can't leave Jackson!" JJ cried as they began rushing away from the stage. The two shook their heads.

"Sorry sweetie. We need to run. You two are the priority right now." Lina said. JJ looked up to where Jackson was as he backed away from a few goons approaching him. JJ let out a noise of distress and flailed in an attempt to work themselves out of their mom's grasp. It worked, and they fell forward and onto their hands before launching themselves forward as soon as their feet hit the ground. They crossed the distance to the stage in a few seconds, jumping and rolling onto it, quickly darting over to the goons advancing on Jackson before taking them down with a few swift attacks. They turned to Jackson before running to him and wrapping their arms around him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. We can't leave you. Please, we can't leave you. Not like last time." They said quietly. Jackson frowned, brushing their hair away from their face.

"It's ok. It'll be fine. You just need to run." he replied, looking up. Amelia was running towards them through the crowd, shouting for JJ.

Jackson grit his teeth, picking them up before running to the edge of the stage and tossing them over the edge into their mom's waiting arms. JJ let out a distressed cry as they weaved back into the crowd and away from him.

"No! Wait! Jackson! Nooooo!" They screamed, kicking at her mom. She winced at the pained scream, reaching the edge of the crowd where Lina waited, holding Noah.

"Alright lets go." Amelia said hurriedly, sprinting down the road with Lina on her heels. Loud shouting came from behind them as a group of goons followed them. They shot down the road, twisting and turning in an attempt to loose the goons, but a sudden loud gunshot rang through the air. Blood and grey matter flew from the front of Lina's head as she collapsed, dead before she hit the ground. JJ and Noah screamed in horror.

"MUTTER!" JJ screeched. Amelia nearly froze, a loud sob coming out of her throat, but she grabbed Noah and continued running, a slew of curses coming out of her mouth.

They continued to run, not stopping. JJ was sobbing loudly, muttering unintelligible choked words in german. Noah reached over and grabbed their hand, squeezing it. Another gunshot rang through the air, and Amelia stumbled, falling over. Blood poured from the wound in her neck as she choked on her own blood. JJ let out a horrified and heartbroken screech, wrapping their arms around her.

"MOM! NO! PLEASE NO! DON'T LEAVE ME!" They cried. Noah had covered his mouth, closing his eyes and turning away from the body. He heard more gunshots, and he stumbled back when a few shot at his feet. He whipped around, grabbing JJ's hand and pulling them up.

"We need to go! Come on!" He yelled as he pulled them down the road quickly as he could. Tears were streaming down JJ's face as they looked back, onto the corpse of their mom. They sobbed, closing their eyes and depending on Noah to lead them.

Gunshots continued to ring out through the mostly empty roads as the two sprinted their way to the place where their friends were. Another gunshot, and JJ suddenly stumbled, tripping over their own feet and giving out a loud cry and clutching their side.

"JJ! What's wrong?" Noah asked, panicking. However, the answer was quickly made clear as he saw blood beginning to stain their red tank top an even deeper crimson.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no no. JJ, we can't stop here. Hang on." He said.

"Fuck. Fucking shit. Oh good lord. That hurts like hell. Fuuuccckkk. We need to keep going." JJ said, heaving themselves to their feet despite every move making pain emanate from the wound. They wrapped an arm around Noah's shoulders, and the two flipped around a corner and into an alley. The goons ran right past them by some miracle. JJ was hissing and shuddering in pain, attempting to activate the sos signal with shaking hands.

They eventually pressed the button, sighing in relief.

"Alright. Awesome. Hope you don't mind, but I'm konking out for now. Nighty night." They said, beginning to blink their eyes closed as the world was turning dark.

"JJ! No! Wake up! JJ don't you DARE fall asleep! JJ! JJ!" Noah cried, grabbing their shoulders and shaking them hard. JJ's eyes shifted to him slightly before they drifted shut, going completely limp. Noah kept trying to wake them up. Over, and over, and over. They still didn't wake up. Nothing did. Not when the others finally arrived. Not when Heathcliff did his best to close the wound and stop the bleeding. Not when they were put in the car to begin their drive back to the base. Not when Noah was crying for them to wake up. They were dead to the world. Barely even alive. It wasn't even clear if they would be able to survive the night, or the day leading up to it. All any of them could do, was wait for them to wake up. If they ever even did, that is.


	58. Bloody whip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackson is unable to escape, and The Judge takes no pity on him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big torture warning for this chapter! Please skip if you are uncomfortable or get triggered by it! Stay safe!

Jackson watched Amelia and JJ sprint back out of the crowd, disappearing quickly into the streets. He prayed to every god out there that they would be able to make it out alive. A force on his back sent him crashing to the ground suddenly, and someone was pushing his face into the ground. He growled.

"Hey! Let me the fuck go you piece of shit! I'm gonna kick your ass!" He snarled, kicking at the person holding him down. A pair of shoes walked into his vision, standing over him. He didn't even need to look up to know it was The Judge.

"Well well well now. You have certainly been an absolute pain these last few minutes. A shame, really. I had planned on going easier on you today. Unfortunately, that isn't the case now. You've made us loose some of our participants. Now we have to go through the whole process of finding them, along with those...other children." He lamented, pacing back and forth ever so slightly. There was a strained tone in his voice, signaling that he had likely lost his composure a good bit.

"Don't you fucking touch them." Jackson growled, straining against his captor. The Judge sighed.

"Still so violent. How...annoying. Goon, to the post please." He said, waving a hand. Jackson was hefted onto his feet violently and shoved back towards the large post that came from the stage, before his shirt was pulled off, and he was chained to it. He kicked backwards at the goon who had done it, although he unfortunately didn't hit due to the goon backing out of his range. The Judge turned to the crowd, walking to the edge of the stage.

"Now then, I'm sure that despite this little debacle, we can still have some fun. What do all of you think?" He asked them. Most of the goons and henchmen called out in affirmation, while the hostages stayed mostly quiet. The Judge smiled, turning back to Jackson. He held a hand out to one of the goons, who handed him a long, spiked whip, unfurling it as he did so.

"Well now, why don't we get down to business?" He asked, raising his arm.

The first lash came down, and Jackson let out a small cry of pain and surprise, before quickly gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, determined not to give The Judge the satisfaction of seeing him in pain. Another lash went across his back, and he let a small hiss out through his teeth, trying to steady his breath and block it out. Another couple lashes, and he was unable to keep a gasp of pain from coming out of his mouth. A few gunshots rang out in the distance, which was enough to distract him from the pain for a moment. He hoped that wasn't what he thought it was. Eventually he lost track of time, although he knew it couldn't have been that long, occasionally letting out a cry or hiss of pain against his own will. He felt warm blood flowing down his back from the stinging wounds, making crimson trails down his body. A few footsteps came across the stage, dragging something. He opened his eyes slightly, looking over. His stomach dropped at what he saw.

"Oh my. Finally catch them, did you? Its about time." The Judge said, stopping his onslaught for a few moments. Standing to the side, was a small group of henchmen, holding the bodies of both Amelia and Lina.

"Fuck...no..." Jackson said quietly. The Judge walked forward, kneeling down to the bodies.

"And these are the only ones you found? If I remember correctly, there were two more. Children. Did you not get them" He asked. The henchmen looked at eachother before shaking their heads.

"No sir. They got away. Caught one of em in the side though. Tiny little fucker. I don't think they'll be livin' much longer." One said.

"No...no no no no no! You motherfuckers! I'm gonna beat the shit out of all of you!" Jackson yelled out angrily, straining against his bindings as tears started welling up into his eyes. The Judge raised his brows, rolling his eyes with a sigh before getting up and walking over to the struggling man.

"Hm. Its such a shame, really. Maybe if we had brought the children alive, we could keep you in line better." He said. Jackson spit at him, growling venomously.

"You fucking wish. Once I get out of these cuffs I'm going to rip you limb from limb and watch you bleed." He snarled, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. The Judge chuckled, shaking his head.

"My my. How ruthless. I doubt when you get out of those cuffs you'll even be able to move. Much less rip me limb from limb. An impossible claim." He said dismissively. He whirled the whip around for a second before bringing it back down. And so it went on. Jackson had no idea how long it lasted, but eventually his vision darkened, and he finally slipped into unconsciousness. He faded in and out for a while, hearing and feeling brief flashes of what was going on, but they didn't last long. The last thing he felt before passing out once and for all, was being sat in his little chair in the cell, and being once again cuffed to it. The only thing he knew after that, were the nightmares.


	59. Quiet talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After what happened, nobody is all that happy

It was quiet, and the clock on the wall of the living room ticked away. Ruby sat silently on the couch of the room, flipping through a book. However much she usually liked to read, she wasn't able to get into it today. JJ was still not awake. They had survived the last night luckily, which was a miracle in and of itself. Considering that the wound they had was considerably deep. It had thankfully only grazed their side. If it had gone a little to the right it would have hit their vitals. Nobody was in a very chipper mood. Especially Noah. He had been fidgety and tense all day, and was constantly checking on his friend, hoping that when he came in they would finally wake up. Rain rattled the window as thunder boomed outside. Ruby sighed, placing a bookmark in the book and shutting it before dropping it to the side and standing up. She exited the room, aiming for the cafeteria to get some kind of coffee. She needed it. Walking down the halls, she saw Heathcliff plodding along the hall ahead of her. She sped up slightly, catching up to him.

"Hey." She said simply.

"Hey." He replied. It went quiet for a second, neither exactly knowing what to say. There wasn't very much they could in all honesty.

"So...how is JJ? Any progress with them?" Ruby asked quietly. Heathcliff shook his head remorsefully.

"Unfortunately not. They're just...completely asleep. I'm worried that they had bled out enough to send them into a coma. We're just lucky we staunched the bleeding and stitched up the wound in time to stop them from dying. A blood transfusion would be in order, but we don't have the tools to do it, and I don't know their blood type. The only thing we can do right now is pray." He said, crossing his arms as his eyebrows furrowed. Ruby frowned, nodding and looking forward again. They had already arrived at the cafeteria. She pushed open the door, holding it for Heathcliff.

"Want some coffee?" She questioned. He nodded, plopping down at one of the tables.

Ruby made her way into the kitchen, grabbing two mugs and using the coffee machine to brew a pot of it. She poured the drink, taking some creamer with her. She didn't exactly know what Heathcliff preferred it with after all. She walked over, sitting across from him and passing him a mug, along with the creamer. He took it with a grateful nod.

"Thanks." He said, pouring some creamer into the coffee before downing a few gulps.

"No problem." Ruby replied, sipping hers without using any creamer. A few minutes passed as they exchanged words, simply chatting about nothing in particular, when the door suddenly opened as Julio stepped through. Heathcliff waved and Ruby nodded in acknowledgement.

"Ruby made some coffee if you want some." Heathcliff said. Julio smiled, nodding before going to grab some. He came back into the room with a cup of coffee, undoubtedly filled with sugar. He put a bit of creamer in as well.

"Gloomy day, huh?" He lamented, looking out the windows.

"Yeah. Worst day in a long time as far as I've seen. Hopefully it doesn't take out the power." Heathcliff replied. Ruby hummed in agreement as she took another sip of the coffee.

"Hopefully. Although we do have backup generators, which is good." She said. The other two nodded.

"I would hate for the power to go off now of all times." Julio said. For a few minutes, it stayed like that. Heathcliff finished off his coffee, standing up.

"I need to go check on JJ again. They might be awake by now. Or at least I hope." He said. They exchanged a few parting words before he left. Ruby finished her coffee as well.

"I'm going to go sleep. Its pretty late by now." She said. Julio waved her a goodbye, and she walked out into the hall

She made her way to her room, quickly tossing herself onto her bed once she got there. She sighed, taking her glasses off and putting them to the side before throwing a hand over her eyes. She had tried to put it off, but guilt had caught up to her, settling deep into her gut. The reason JJ was injured like that was because she hadn't stopped them from doing it. She had known how dangerous it would be. Why didn't she stop them? She should have sent one of the others with them at the extreme least. She thought about it for a long while. The time ticked by, when she suddenly heard loud, fast footsteps shooting past her door. She blinked her eyes open, grabbing her glasses as she jumped up, going to the door. She opened it and looked down the hall where the footsteps went. She froze slightly as she saw a the familiar tiny form of a child with brown hair turning down the corner of the long hall. Another pair of footsteps came down the hall, and she looked over to them.

"Hey! You shouldn't be moving so much! JJ, get back here!" Heathcliff yelled out, coming to a stop in front of Ruby, keeling over onto his knees to catch his breath.

"They're awake? Why are they running?" Ruby asked, concern dripping from her tone. Heathcliff took another few deep breaths, holding a finger up to tell her to wait a second, before standing back up.

"I was in the room, and they just kinda woke up out of nowhere! They just dazed off for a minute before saying something in german, jumping off the bed, and running off." He said. Ruby's eyebrows furrowed as she thought for a second.

"Do...you think they remembered what happened and just needed to be somewhere else?" She asked. Heathcliff blinked at her before frowning.

"That's true. But they can't be running like that. They might open up their wound again." He said. Ruby rubbed her face.

"Alright. We need to find them. You look inside, and I'll look outside. They might actually attempt to get out of the base, even if they know that the only way through is over the barrier or through the gate." She said. Heathcliff's mouth set in a thin line as he nodded. The two separated to go their different paths, hoping that they could find the child.


	60. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JJ has woken up, and they are definitely worse for wear. Ruby finds them, and the two talk it out

The doors and lights blurred past as JJ sprinted down the hallways of the base full speed. Their lungs burned for air and every step sent a shooting pain up into their side, but they payed it no mind. Barely held back tears welled up inside their eyes as they tried to blink them away. They wanted to leave. They wanted to go home. They wanted to be alone. The school walls were suffocating, and although they could see what the day was like, they didn't care. Their eyes stayed straight ahead as they peeled down the hall, looking desperately for the exit. They were almost there. Just a little bit more. Nausea had already settled deep within their stomach when they had remembered. The memories whirled around in their head like a tornado, making them even more nauseous. They were almost there. Just a couple more hallways.

Within the minute, they saw it. The exit. They attempted to speed up more, turning their body slightly and smashing themselves into the crashbar of the door and stumbling outside, almost immediately becoming soaked. Rain poured down from the dark clouds in the sky as lightning flashed across it and thunder boomed. Neither the stars nor moon were visible through the storm, leaving the sky a mix of dark grey and inky black. Pain emanated from the area that JJ had smashed into the door with, but they brushed it off. They sprinted to the edge of the road, when they tripped, falling into a puddle of water and mud. They shivered, nausea getting the best of them, and heaved up the contents of their stomach, leaving an unpleasant taste and burn in their mouth and throat. A shaking sob came out of their mouth before they pushed themselves back up onto heavily shaking legs and continued forward.

They made their way to the front gate, and slid to a stop in front of it. They put their hands onto it, pushing as hard as they could. As suspected, it didn't budge at all. They turned, pressing their back into the gate and pushing that way. Still no give. They pulled back, ramming themselves desperately against the gate a few times, as if that would be any more successful. It wasn't. They pressed their head onto the door, finally letting their tears start rolling down their cheeks as they dropped to their knees and let out a broken sob. They dropped onto their side and curled into a ball, uncaring of the small puddles beneath them. Their body was soaked through and through, sending harsh shudders through them and causing goosebumps to rise up on their skin every time a bit of wind blew by. Not to say they weren't already shaking like a leaf.

They gasped for breath between their choked sobs, barely able to get in enough air before another cry came out. The moments of when they were back at that place played in their mind over and over and over again like a broken record. When they had been able to knock The Judge out, and their moms and Jackson had broke free from their captors, they had been so hopeful. They had thought that maybe, they would all be able to get out of there. The sheer panic of having their mom pick them up and start running away while Jackson was still up their was indescribable. They wanted all of them to get out. They had felt so small. So useless when they had been taken once again after they had gotten away to help Jackson. They were running for a few minutes, then gunshots. Blood. The images of their dead mothers would be forever burned into their memory, haunting them.

The deaths played in their mind again and again, making them sob even harder than they already were. Their throat closed up, making them choke for breath. It was getting harder and harder to breathe by the second. The prospect of calming down seemed almost impossible at this point. Their panic had consumed them. They choked and sobbed and cried for who knows how long as large, salty tears streamed down their face like a river. They were only snapped out of their panic slightly, when they heard someones footsteps approaching. They blinked their eyes open, looking to where the noise was coming from. Despite their vision being blurred by tears, they could still recognise Ruby's figure anytime. They squeezed their eyes shut again, curling more into their ball.

"JJ, you shouldn't be out here. Its pouring. You're getting your bandages all wet and dirty." She said, coming to their side quickly. They shifted away from her.

"Why would you care? Leave me alone." They mumbled. Ruby gave them a bewildered look.

"Wh....Why would I care? That's kind of a ridiculous question. Why wouldn't I? And no, I'm not leaving you alone." She said. JJ grit their teeth, attempting to push down their crying, although failing miserably.

"Don't play that game with me. Don't act like you don't fucking hate me. Everyone does. You guys think I don't see those disappointed looks you give me? I...fuck." They choked again. Ruby stared at them for a moment, realization starting to dawn on her. She reached a hesitant hand out, a concerned look on her face.

"JJ, nobody hates you. I don't hate you. We...I....just were trying to think." She said. She jumped at the growl that came from JJ's mouth.

"Oh don't fucking bullshit me like that. I fucked up. I got Jackson captured because I couldn't pull myself back. Jesus.....Ruby, he looked bad. Really. Fucking. Bad. The Judge is doing some really fucked up things to him. He was hurt. If....if I hadn't done what I did, he would still be here. He would be ok. My....my moms would be okay. They would be alive. Everything would be fine. But I did, and it isn't. How are we going to save him? I just....don't know what I'm supposed to do to fix this." JJ replied. Another couple sobs came out of their mouth after that.

Ruby stopped at that. Her eyebrows furrowed. She had been frustrated and scared. She had taken that out on JJ. A child. A child who didn't know any better in the end. What they did was understandable. In all truth, id she had been put in that situation, she would have done the same thing. Their parents meant so much to them, that was obvious. Their need to save them was completely reasonable. She had been horrible. Guilt welled up inside her, and she clenched her fists for a second, taking a deep breath.

"No. No, it's....it's ok. You did what even I would have done in that situation. Your parents were in danger. You wanted to save them. I was scared and frustrated and just...felt horrible at what happened. I blamed myself for a little while. I should have NEVER taken any of that out on you, because it wasn't your fault. None of this was. I......I'm sorry." She said. She looked at JJ for a minute before reaching out and pulling them up by their shoulders.

They tried to turn their face away from her, attempting to hide their red and bloodshot eyes and the tears running down their cheeks. Ruby hesitated for a moment, before pulling them into her chest in a hard hug. JJ froze before attempting to pull away from her. When that didn't work, they punched at her back a few times. Eventually they just stopped, letting their arms fall to their sides. Their crying started up again, harder than before as they buried themselves into Ruby's shoulder and wrapping their arms around her neck. They stopped trying to hold back their crying, letting themselves drop off the bagage that they had been holding onto for the past few weeks. Ruby didn't say anything, simply rubbing small circles onto their back. They were shaking like a leaf. A combination of the emotional breakdown as well as the cold temperature. They were soaking wet and covered in mud. She planned on getting them inside as soon as possible, or else they might catch something.

She herself was also soaked, her clothes clinging to her frame in an uncomfortable way. She curled over JJ slightly, protecting them from the rain slightly. She looked up into the dark sky, glaring slightly. A horrible night to be outside like this. She ran her fingers through JJ's usually fluffy hair, that was currently pressed to their skull and dripping with water. Their breathing was uneven and sporadic, but it slowly eased up into a steadier pace. Ruby sighed, turning her head to look at them.

"Do you have anywhere to go after this? Any family or friends that could take care of you?" She asked quietly. JJ sniffed, shaking their head.

"No. My moms broke off from their families because they were both pretty bigoted, and any family friends that we have wouldn't be able to do it because of various reasons." They answered. Ruby frowned at that.

".....I see. Alright. We can cross that bridge when we get to it." She said. JJ closed their eyes, shuddering.

"I don't wanna go back into foster care." They muttered quietly. Ruby's throat closed up at the thought. She had heard what sometimes could happen there, as well as the things that had happened to JJ. She didn't want a repeat of that either. No way in hell. If she needed to, she would take them in herself.

"You're not going back to foster care. I promise." She said. JJ shifted their head to look at her, scanning her expression for a moment. They shut their eyes again, pushing closer into Ruby. She put a hand up, wiping off some of the rain from her glasses, although that didn't help much, as more rain splashed against them. She shook her head, pulling away from JJ slightly.

"We need to get inside, get you in a shower, change your bandages, and get you to bed, alright?" She said. The child nodded slowly, shifting away from her and wobbling to their feet. She stood up with them, grabbing their shoulders to steady them. They looked absolutely exhausted.

She sighed, kneeling down with her back facing them. JJ seemed to get the hint fairly quickly, and climbed onto her back. She grabbed their legs and stood up, quickly making her way back to the school and pushing the door open. She continued walking down the halls, coming to a stop next to the gyms locker and shower room, setting JJ down gently.

"Alright. Take those bandages off and take a shower. While you do that I'm going to get some new ones and some clothes." She said, patting their head. At their complacent nod, she turned, going to do what she had said. She passed a panicked Heathcliff in the hall, who calmed down a fair bit when she informed him that she had found them and what they were doing. She made her way into the nurses room, grabbing some gauze and the like to disinfect and bandage the wound. She wasn't taking any chances since it looked like they had definitely fallen in a mud puddle. She then dropped into The Playground and snatched up some of JJ's clothes before quickly going back to the shower room, depositing the clothes inside.

After JJ had clothed themselves, she went back in, examining the wound. It hadn't opened up again, which was a miracle. She rubbed some disinfectant on it, which gained a few small hissed of pain from them, before wrapping the wound again. She wasn't surprised that the whole time, JJ looked very much on the edge of passing out, eyes fluttering as their head occasionally went completely limp before shaking themselves awake. She pulled away, having finished her job.

"Alright. That should do it. Don't go off and open it up again, ok?" She asked. JJ mumbled something back, which she only assumed to be a confirmation. They let out a loud yawn, dropping forward onto Ruby. She blinked in surprise before letting a breath out and picking them up once again. She made her way back to The Playground, setting JJ down once to put them in the locker. Both of them couldn't go down at once after all. After that, she dropped down herself and quickly went to work putting JJ to bed. Although it was hard, considering they didn't seem to want to let go of her. They soon were layed out in bed, completely passed out.

Ruby looked up to the clock on one of the pillars holding the room up, checking the time. Her eyes widened when she saw that it was already 12:32. She rubbed her eyes, taking a long breath. She looked back down at the sleeping JJ. Something rose up in her, and she leaned down, giving them a small kiss on the forehead. She quickly pulled back, embarrassed. She had no idea what caused that. She shook it off, turning and leaving The Playground. She walked down the hallways slowly, lost within her own thoughts. The whole situation leading up to this was the worst thing that could have happened. She had heard what had happened from Noah. They all did. She never would have wished it on anyone. Especially not a child. Her chest tightened at the thought. She arrived at her room, this time actually tossing off her old clothes and switching them for some new, not soaked ones. She plopped into bed, asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, sending her into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually exclusive for ao3 because fanfic.net, or at least the mobile version, can't take all that many words, and I couldn't just shorten this like that.


End file.
